Back from Terrific Cycling Holiday in Netherlands

And had such a good time I want to tell everyone about it!

This was a guided barge and biking group tour called the Southern Relax
Tour, circling from Amsterdam with calls in Haarlem, Leiden, Delft,
Rotterdam and Vianen. The formula is, the barge is your hotel. It travels
the waterways
from town to town, then the tour guide takes the group out for a sightseeing
ride in the surrounding landscape, using the wonderful network of bike paths
that cover this ecological and topologically flat country. The rides on this
particular tour are of about 30 km (20 miles), hence the name "Relax", but
other tours exist for more strenuous cyclists with distances of twice as
much.

As a born Quirkyalone, with a number of balance problems, who only learned
to stay teeteringly upright on a bike three years ago aged 46, I had been
looking for a safe venue to practise riding. I needed a group because I
travel solo, but would not feel safe heading off into a foreign wilderness
with no support system. On the other hand, I feared the group, because there
is so much pot luck in group dynamics, and because I am so physically inept
that I weigh heavily on the patience of anyone with normal motor skills.

I lucked out all around. I paid on the basis of double-occupancy, with the
understanding that I would accept a same-sex cabin-mate if necessary, but as
the tour, with 17 participants, was well below full, I had a deliciously
cozy cabin with shower all to myself. The ship, called the Wending, is of
what the company calls "Comfort Class", meaning that all cabins have
attached washing facilities and that both beds are on the ground (ships of
the lesser "Standard" class have bunk beds, something I was keen to avoid).
Upstairs is a window-lined common area which serves as dining room and
general lounge, and the outdoor deck where the bikes live.

Meals were fantastic. Breakfast is a buffet on ship; a number of cold-cuts
and cheeses are served so that we make sandwiches for a picnic lunch, then
we are back in time for a 3-course sit-down dinner at 6pm. Praise to the
cooks! We had creamy mushroom soups, bright crunchy salads, a gorgeous lamb
and rosemary stew, salmon kebabs, Milanese cutlets, a sumptuous cheese
fondue, and the desserts were obscene! Quantities were unsoundable - even
with 20 miles of cycling in our legs we couldn't finish. After dinner, a
touristic walk through town served as a constitutional before card games,
nightcaps and lights out at 11.

The group consisted of 10 retirees from Orange County, CA, loosely organized
around a tennis club, and 2 senior Dutch couples. Average age was about 55,
with the oldest well over 70, and there were twice as many women as men.
Although the tour company does what it can to be "family friendly", offering
arrangements for child-seats on bikes and whatever, this tour simply did not
draw any young whippersnappers or child-encumbered couples. Perhaps it is a
combination of the "Relax" theme and the fact that in the US schools were
not yet out in early June. Fine by me!

I found the actual trips out very challenging, and at the limits of my
physical capacities. Balance problems did beset me and were quite
inhibiting. I find I cannot turn an angle of less than about 120 degrees,
cannot start uphill (and the bikes did _not_ have hub-shifters), cannot
thread my way through bollards, have trouble passing on-coming cyclists on
narrow lanes and cleaving sufficiently to the right when being passed by
traffic from behind without falling into the ditch. Wherever there was a
series of stops-starts-turns, as with entering and leaving cities, there was
nothing for it but to come off my bike and walk as a pedestrian. As before I
cannot take my hands off the bars to signal or ring the bell, cannot look
behind me or even to the left or right, which is how I managed to see
practically nothing of the Netherlands beyond the arse of the rider in front
of me. On the town walks I had similar problems, concentrating so hard on
the toe-stubbing, ankle-cracking cobblestones of the old cities that we
managed to go clear through Amsterdam's Red Light district without my
noticing a single thing!!

And I cannot say enough for the patience and kindness of the group and of
our magnificent tour-guide, Marcel. Having never cycled under these
circumstances before, I could not initially gaugue to what I degree I, and I
alone, was the "problem member" of the group. Marcel was leading in the
front. For a time, he tried to take me under his protective wing and have me
cycle with him but I was just too slow! So I fell into the care of the
"Sweeper", the group member designated to ride last and make sure no one
gets lost, and to the foursome of experienced Dutch riders who staid behind
at crossroads to indicate the proper continuance of way. They could have
been so annoyed with me, but they never showed it, and several group members
even suggested they were grateful to have such a slowpoke on the trip
because it gave them a chance to relax and enjoy the scenery. Marcel was
unfailingly diplomatic. I myself suggested that I wanted to stay in and rest
two of the seven days. Blessedly, he chose Delft as my first day in on
Tuesday and I selected Amsterdam on Friday - those were the days of hardest
riding and I know I would not have made it. But Delft had a wonderful
shopping mall where I went wild on exotic groceries and bike luggage, and
Amsterdam is full of museums, and both have merciful boat tours of town
which I could just sit back and enjoy.

So I give this trip a 10 out of 10. I will also add that it was outstanding
value for money: a week of full room and board costing me only about 900
Euros, (excluding the Paris-Amsterdam train-fare) against near competitors
going for almost twice as much. I am unrelated to the organizing companies
and am not advertizing, but if anyone is interested, I booked through the
Web-site www.tripsite.com which is a travel agent. The native web-site of
the company providing the tour is www.cycletours.com.

Cheers,

Elisa Francesca Roselli
Ile de France

[snip]

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:

:: So I give this trip a 10 out of 10. I will also add that it was
:: outstanding value for money: a week of full room and board costing
:: me only about 900 Euros, (excluding the Paris-Amsterdam train-fare)
:: against near competitors going for almost twice as much. I am
:: unrelated to the organizing companies and am not advertizing, but if
:: anyone is interested, I booked through the Web-site www.tripsite.com
:: which is a travel agent. The native web-site of the company
:: providing the tour is www.cycletours.com.
::

Thanks, Elisa, for the nice story and info. I'm interested in doing a
cylcetour in 2006 with my gf.

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
And had such a good time I want to tell everyone about it!

{snipped, but do yourself a favor and read the full OP}

So I give this trip a 10 out of 10.

Likewise the writeup! Brava, Elisa -- your courage and sense of adventure
are truly inspirational. Thank you for sharing them with us!

With much admiration, Bill S.

Bill Sornson wrote:
Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
And had such a good time I want to tell everyone about it!

{snipped, but do yourself a favor and read the full OP}

So I give this trip a 10 out of 10.

Likewise the writeup! Brava, Elisa -- your courage and sense of adventure
are truly inspirational. Thank you for sharing them with us!

Hear! Hear!

With the balance and signalling issues, have you considered hiring a
tricycle? I'm sure one of the dark side would be happy to point you in
the right direction..

The trip sounded great, and one I would be tempted to take the kids on.

...d

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote about:

a guided barge and biking group tour called the Southern
Relax Tour, circling from Amsterdam with calls in Haarlem,
Leiden, Delft, Rotterdam and Vianen.

It sounds wonderful, Elisa.

--
"Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much
to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes,
it has not died out." -- The Daily Telegraph (1877)

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
And had such a good time I want to tell everyone about it!

This was a guided barge and biking group tour called the Southern Relax
Tour, circling from Amsterdam with calls in Haarlem, Leiden, Delft,
Rotterdam and Vianen. The formula is, the barge is your hotel. It travels
the waterways

clip great travel story.

sit back and enjoy.

So I give this trip a 10 out of 10. I will also add that it was outstanding
value for money: a week of full room and board costing me only about 900
Euros, (excluding the Paris-Amsterdam train-fare) against near competitors
going for almost twice as much. I am unrelated to the organizing companies
and am not advertizing, but if anyone is interested, I booked through the
Web-site www.tripsite.com which is a travel agent. The native web-site of
the company providing the tour is www.cycletours.com.

Cheers,

Elisa Francesca Roselli
Ile de France

I've done a boad tours and cycle tours but never the two combined. It
sounds like a great tour and something I'd like to do. Thanks for the
great report.

John Kane
Kingston ON