Following comments from one of our blog followers, we are attempting to improve the ‘product placement’ opportunities for our Strada bidon (drinking water bottle) with the faint hope of an increase to our 10% discount at Strada Cycles on North Street. Alas, Bradley and Cav were both busy today, but we did get a couple of shots that were an improvement of the one of ‘grumpy Mike with a bidon on a train’, and of course we’ll keep trying!
If you think the Tour de France is just about cycling – think again. Like most major sporting events these days, there is plenty of product placement. “How do you do product place in a cycle race”, you may ask? Each stage of the race is preceded by a ‘caravan’ where sponsors’ floats are accompanied by loud music, advertisements and the sight of grown adults scrabbling like refugees at a feeding station to catch the ‘tat’ being thrown into the crowd from the caravan. Amongst the tat on offer today were pens, key-rings, shopping bags, sun hats and spectacle cloths – all emblazoned with the sponsors’ logos. Alas all we managed to catch today was a packet of ‘Madeleines’ (small buttery cakes) and as Mike won’t eat them I guess I’d better eat them all with a cup of tea!
So the Tour de France has begun, and although the Brits didn’t quite conquer, they certainly put up a good fight with a taste of what’s to come. Chris Froome, Stephen Cummings and David Millar were all fantastic securing 11th, 14th and 15th place respectively. Clearly the star of the day was Bradley Wiggins who was narrowly pipped into second place in the Prologue time trial by Fabian Cancellara, (although only by 7 seconds). Hopes were high for Bradley and he didn’t disappoint, putting in a storming performance. There were plenty of Brits and Union flags in the crowds, (which were very large). We cycled to Liège straight after breakfast to make sure we secured a good spot, which we did right next to the 450 meter marker with a view up and down the course. There was also a good view of a giant tv screen until – rather annoyingly – some staff from FranceTV Sport decided to inflate a giant pink microphone, obscuring most of the screen. Nevertheless, if we craned our necks we could just about make out the leader board. Tomorrow the Tour leaves Liège for the first proper stage from Liège to Seraing – we’ll be up early so we can get a good spot to cheer on our boys!
Finding vegan food on the continent is not that easy – thank goodness for the Chinese restaurant!
After a delicious tofu-rich dinner, we took a walk around Maastricht taking in the city walls, the bastions, (large pre-Napoleonic earth and stone battlements), a catholic shrine, a Synagogue, the chiming town hall clock (If you’d like to hear that you can watch a short video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JobCvmPP9E0
We also saw lots of bikes at night and a flaming statue. When I say flaming, I don’t mean an annoying statue, but one that is literally on fire. It commemorates one of Maastricht’s famous sons – Jean-Pierre Minckelers. Jean Pierre was a local philosopher and scientist who is credited as the inventor of illuminating gas. As with most of these things he was trying to find something else – which gas would be best for getting hot air balloons to float. It sounds like science has a long history of attempting to find out the ‘things that are not very useful for many people’, a bit like the recent research to find out how long you can dunk a biscuit before it drops into your cup. Anyway Mr Jean-Pierre Minckelers struck lucky and found out the best way to illuminate gas and to thank him for it – his home town gave him a flaming statue.
We’re coming across an interesting phenomena in the Netherlands – the inability to pay by credit card. In the UK we’re used to buying anything with our flexible friend – cinema tickets, weekly shop or even a car park ticket, but not here. Almost everywhere we have tried to pay by credit card, we’re declined. Only cash or debit cards seem to be acceptable. In some ways this is very admirable, living within your means is a lesson that the David Cameron would like the British to follow (unless you’re a banker that is!).
While the Dutch may avoid payment by plastic, they certainly excel in plastic table coverings. I must confess to a small ‘obsessive-compulsive disorder’ when it comes to wipe-able fabric, so while Mike will make a bee-line for a bike shop, I can sniff out a plastic covered fabric retailer at fifty paces. The continental market is rich pickings for someone with such an addiction, and thankfully fairly safe – since luggage restrictions prevent me actually purchasing anything. Not that I need to purchase, as I’ve recently OD’d on some lovely new plastic fabric from Marrimeko – lovely but eye-wateringly expensive, so for the time being the plastic credit card is under lock and key as its ‘look but no buying’ on plastic fabrics for a while!
Deciding what to do with churches that no longer have a congregation to serve is an ongoing dilemma facing many places in the UK. In Bristol, several have been put to new uses, including sports clubs and a climbing centre. Here in Maastricht an ingenious new use has been found for a redundant Dominican church. Pews have been replaced by bookshelves and in place of the altar is a café. The space still retains a reverential air, which seems appropriate for those of us who still love books and are saddened to see the demise of bookshops as the rise of philistinism and tablet reading device moves ever forward.
The Guardian newspaper described this place as the best bookshop in Europe, and in terms of atmosphere they are not wrong. Perhaps this could be glimpse into the future where the bookshop becomes a place of pilgrimage in the way places of worship once were, with the ringing of cash tills replacing the ringing of bells.
It is now a pre-requisite of any new development that there is a contribution to a local art project or installation. In Cabot Circus, Bristol’s most recent shopping development among the art (of which there are many including some fine glass by Susanna Herron and some etched stone by Timorous Beasties), is a crushed car by Neville Gable encased into a concrete pillar in the car park. The registration of the said car is embossed into the side of the pillar. I may be wrong, but I don’t think that crowds of shoppers gather round this installation in awe at its cultural contribution to the local art landscape.
In Maastricht, however, the art installation in the recently opened Mosae Forum shopping centre certainly seems to draw in the crowds. One floor below ground and at the entrance to the car park, is a large collection of Citröen model cars. Displayed behind glass, but clear for all to see are hundreds (if not thousands) of toy Citröen cars and related objects of every shape and size. We particularly like the ‘Rapha’ style sag-waggon. I could easily have left Mike here for a couple of hours, but there’s plenty more to explore in Maastricht so we pootled off to explore further.
Some of the readers of this blog may be familiar with the experience of continental ’boutique’ hotels. We are more used to the Travel Lodge-standard, or if we’re pushing the boat out, a Premier Inn! However, for four nights we’re staying in Hotel d’Orangerie, a very smart and ‘chi, chi’ little establishment tucked between the old town of Maastricht and the Mass river. There is a stone set into the wall in our room that has ‘1783’ engraved into it – I’m pleased to report that the room has been upgraded since then, with nice fluffy towels, plump bedding and stylish decor. We have a glimpse of the little courtyard garden from our window and as we descend the two flights to reception we pass lovely stained glass windows and tall dishes filled with various sweets. Unfortunately, I picked what I thought was a chocolate sweet last night – only to discover it has the unusua,l (and rather disgusting) flavour combination of salted aniseed – I think I’ll go easy on those!
We finally made it to Liége – but missed the presentation of the teams completely. We just had time for a quick wander round the start and finish lines before we headed back to the rather amazing station in Liége (like something out of a Star Trek film), to catch the train back to Maastricht. Off to bed now, hoping to wake up to a more successful day tomorrow.
Well today started well – lovely breakfast and a pleasant departure from Venlo. Unfortunately following the cycle route took us on a very windy and not very direct course. By lunch time we’d barely covered a quarter of the journey to Maastricht. We decided to go on the more direct road route and did manage to make up time – but the temperature was rising and we were getting hotter and hotter. We eventually touched down in Maastricht just after 5 but by the time we had checked into the hotel and got ourselves sorted it was gone 6 and the presentation of the teams started at 6.30 in Liege (30 mins away by train). We decided to risk it and walked to the station. The next train wasn’t until 7.20 but we thought we’d at least get there to see the end of the presentation. What we didn’t bank on was the unscheduled 30 minute stop at Vise to deal with some kind of incident that happened elsewhere on the train. Still don’t really know what it was, but it involved the police and lots of unsavoury looking characters. The train has now set off again and we’re nearing Liege – over an hour after we left Maastricht. We’ll probably just have time to turn round and catch a train straight back again :0(
We’ve had a lovely couple of nights in Venlo with our fab hosts Wendy and Tim. It’s a bit sad we have to move on, but exciting to be heading for Maastrict today and then Liége this evening for the presentation of the Tour de France teams. I’ve had my gardening fun and it’s now Mike’s turn to have some cycling treats – lets hope Bradley and Cav don’t disappoint!
Floriade certainly lived up to its name – a festival of flowers and horticulture. We got to the expo about lunchtime and stayed until the close at 8pm. We managed to see pretty much everything but were bushed by the end. Here are a few photos of my highlights. I’m off to bed now… to dream of flowers!
To find our way to Floriade today we decided to follow the Dutch version (much better version) of the national cycle network. The knooppunt network (roughly translates as number point) consists of a whole series of numbered map points, each signed to the next nearest ones. So to get to a certain destination you simply work out which number knooppunts you need to pass through, follow those numbers and bingo, you’ll never get lost! To get from central venue (number 10) we followed (legs) number 11, (one click) number 6, 83 (I don’t think bingo numbers go that high, but if they did it could be ‘a fat knee – 83’) and finally number 1 (Kelly’s eye). As you’d expect in the Netherlands it was mainly segregated cycle route, beautifully signed and as you arrived at Floriade you’re greeted by beautiful wild flower verges and a secure staffed cycle park – a bit like the equivalent of winning a bingo line and a house all in one go!
The train to Venlo took about two hours – well it did when we finally managed to catch it. On our first attempt we discovered no bike are allowed between 4.30-6 peak time (it was 5.15), on our second attempt the train was too crowded, so we decided to wait for the next one; we finally caught the train at 6.48 arriving in Venlo just before 9pm. The numerous attempts meant we had extra time to enjoy the building work at Rotterdam Central. It’s going to be a beautiful station when it’s complete, we’ll have to pay a return visit to see it.
We arrived at our Warm Showers host several hours later than we’d expected, but nevertheless Wendy, Tim and their daughter Hannah made us very welcome with a lovely vegan meal and good company. After a good night’s rest we’re going to spend today visiting Floriade – the once a decade Dutch horticultural expo.
Now I know that the Dutch are pretty liberal. They’re well known for allowing cannabis to be smoked in cafés and certain areas of Amsterdam have a very explicit nature. However, even I was surprised to confronted by this sculpture of a 20 foot gnome carrying what appears to be a giant dildo. There must be a new Dutch version of Snow White as I don’t recall this one in the version I read!
Also a Rodin (no dildo)
According to our carefully arranged plans we should be about half way to Venlo by now. Alas the ‘spoke gods’ had other plans, so instead we’re having a nice drink 112 meters up the Euromast. It’s a fab view, just not quite so fab if, like Mike, you’re a little bit queasy with heights. I should point out that it wasn’t even my idea to come up hear, it was his! A nice glass of orange juice seems to have calmed his nerves a bit, let’s just hope we get to the bottom in one piece.
A video of the view from the ‘Euroscoop’ on top of the ‘Euromast’ Rotterdam http://t.co/lulrvR3
The silver lining to our mechanical malfunction is the discovery of Café Lungo, where they are having a ‘pop-up’ Tour Café – we could forget the rest of our holiday all together and just stay here!
Well it turns out that the annoying squeak on my bike is being caused by three broken spokes on the rear wheel. This isn’t great news when you’re planning to cycle about 125 miles today! On a more positive note, at least we discovered this whilst in Rotterdam and not stranded in the middle of nowhere. The Tourist Office directed us to a nearby workshop, but unfortunately it won’t be fixed until 2pm, so cycling to Venlo has turned into a train journey. A quick trip to Rotterdam Central Station (currently being rebuilt – it looks like its going to be fab when it’s finished) and our tickets are purchased. Mike commented that he couldn’t imaging a Dutch person going to Bristol Temple Meads Station to ask for a ticket to somewhere like Leicester to be greeted by a member of staff fluent in Dutch. They would however be met with lots of cycle parking, a bit like this picture of the cycle park at Rotterdam Central – except this is just the overflow cycle park!
Or as we say in English, good morning Rotterdam. It looks like it’s going to be another nice cycling day as we head to our first destination – Venlo, which is on the Dutch/German border. We’re currently on the ferry but will be docking shortly, looking forward to cycling again in one of the most cycle-friendly countries in the world. If you haven’t tried it yet, I’d thoroughly recommend it.
There are quite a few cyclists on the overnight crossing today. Last time we travelled on this route there was us and a couple more, this time there must be over twenty. I think we win the prize for carrying the least luggage – one small pannier each. I like to take the idea of a Gok Wan compact capsule wardrobe to its limits – it’s amazing how many combinations you can get with a bit of clever accessorising.
We’ve arrived in Harwich, which is a bit like East Street, Bedminster-on-Sea. Not a lot to hang around for, just as well really as we’re heading off to the lovely Netherlands on the 11pm ferry. We’ve stocked up in Morrison’s (yep, that’s as good as it gets in Harwich) and are just waiting to be let on board. We did have a nice cycle along to the (sort of) sea front before hitting the aisles, here’s the picture to prove it.
Third time lucky! We finally made it to Beth Chatto’s Garden just outside Elmstead Market. Well worth waiting for, very informal but lush… and a nice cream tea in the cafe too.
The offending noise turned out to be a loose nut on the rear mud-guard rubbing against the tyre, (sounds more painful that it was). The nice man in the Spokes’ shop in Epping changed it and we had a smooth (and peaceful) run to Chelmsford in time for lunch. The Recess cafe is our refreshment stop, nice coffee and soya milk too, although nothing vegan for Mike to eat – but nothing a quick detour into the M&S food hall can’t solve.
After yesterday’s rest day spent seeing the sights of Potters Bar, (Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s), we’re on the road again and – I’m afraid – to get to Harwich, ‘the only way is Essex’. Fortunately, being a Monday, the roads have been quieter than the last time we cycled this way (it was Sunday – driver hell then). Alas it’s not all going smoothly though, Mike’s bike has developed an intermittent small ‘clank’ coming from the wheels somewhere. So we’ve stopped in Epping to get it looked at in Spokes’ bike shop. Fingers crossed it isn’t anything serious as I’d hate a spanner to get in the way of my THIRD attempt to visit the Beth Chatto Gardens – our pre-ferry rest stop. The first time we tried to get there it was closed and the second time we took a wrong turn in Ongar and ended up in Brentford and Billericay!
Fingers crossed this will be third time lucky!
O2 have decided to be particularly rubbish, just when we need to arrange to minimise our data roaming charges while we’re away. From 1 July the new EU laws come into effect that cap the outrageous charges phone companies have been charging people for accessing the Internet on their mobile devices when on holiday. Unfortunately we have a week in the Netherlands and Belgium before 1 July. Unhelpfully, O2 have decided to end their European bolt-on a week before the new limits come into effect, which means a potentially large bill – or no internet for us. First prize to O2 for crap customer service. We’re now hunting for a cheap sim for this week – hence a trip to Tesco Phone Shop Potters Bar, oh the glamour!
We’re on our cycling travels again – but this time only for two weeks. Our first stage was from Bristol to Potters Bar, 111 miles in just under nine hours. We thought we were setting a good pace until we passed a couple of cyclist as we approached our destination (Mike’s sister’s house). We asked how far they’d come, the reply was that ‘they’d covered 220 miles that day – It somewhat took the wind out of our sails! Today is a rest day, we’re cycling to Harwich tomorrow (about 70 miles) to catch the ferry to Rotterdam before cycling to Floriade in Venlo (the once a decade Dutch horticultural expo) then onto Liege for the start of the Tour de France 2012.
Our blog about our trip to the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France to see the start of the 2012 Tour de France and the Floriade Flower Festival starts here!
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Matthew and Mike Travel from Bristol 