Return to the Netherlands

It has been six years since I last cycled through the Netherlands which despite being flat can be hard work when you're facing the North Sea winds with 45kg of baggage on board. That time I skirted Luxembourg/East Belgium and in fact I now immediately recognised a hill 5km to the south of Roermund that I passed several years before. I now realised I'd crossed the border into the Netherlands leaving West Germany.

Riding Dutch cycling infrastructure is world class and I also experienced this in Germany and Scandinavia, in particular Denmark. Despite France owning the crown of world cycling events, like the UK its cycling infrastructure is relatively nonexistent but at least the French motorists are respectful of cyclists. This attitude is not much better in Australia and I think it's due to the prevalence of your typical white English 'entitled' middle-aged/senior male patriarchal citizen who generally have little tolerance of anything in life except for young women, ankle biters, matching striped sailor tops and golf.

In the short six years I've also noticed the one-car family is now the two or three-car family which has impeded my use of cycle paths in towns here because they're now occupied by cars that also park in either direction. As soon as I leave the town the cycle path is clear again for myself and other cyclists/pedestrians.

I have to walk around the cars now

Think I'll pass on that air traffic controller job

The familiar hill south of Roermund

I absolutely love this space and quiet

I eventually made my way to Middelharnis on one of the lower peninsulas just south of Rotterdam where I stayed with my lovely hosts for a few days and discovered how hard the Dutch folk party. I'm a non-drinking non-'smoking' chap but enjoyed the colourful conversations and even cooked a meal for my hosts. It was Spanikopita and was popular in the Adelaide 80's restaurant I cooked in.