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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 |
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#2
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[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. |
#3
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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. |
#4
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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 |
#5
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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) |
#6
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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 |
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