Today we leave the Netherlands for a short foray into Belgium. But I have a couple of nagging comments about the Dutch. It is a culture of mini dogs. There are a ton of people out walking their dogs but 99% of those dogs are no taller than a foot (30 cm for you younger folks). We presume this is due to the size of the people’s residence. No room for a St. Bernard.
The second thing is a bit odd but here it goes. The Dutch have amazing toilet paper. It is the same quality as those paper napkins that you keep and only bring out when you have guests.
Last, but this is not strictly a Dutch thing. I am sure I mentioned this when we travelled through Denmark. I hate cobbles. Our asphalt roads in Alberta can be rough but to pedal over cobbles after 5 hours in the saddle is horrible. Shaking and bouncing about, your forward progression slows and it is just generally uncomfortable.
We crossed the border in Belgium today and you notice things have changed. The canals have disappeared. Lot of green countryside but no water. There are only about 1/2 as many bike riders. Yes it is still a biking culture but the numbers are down a little. In general the bike ‘roads’ are not kept to the same standard as north of the border. At least not on the first part of our journey here.
When we arrive at Schipol we met a couple from our home town that was going to spend a month riding around most Belgium. When we told them we were starting in Amsterdam she mentioned they and pedalled about the Netherlands a few years ago. Her strongest memory was the wind was forever a head wind. I kind of thought bad luck and we can do OK with a bit of wind. The last two days have been the wind from hell. Yesterday we spend about 4 hours into a 30+km wind. OK we made it. Today we start out with a mild tail wind. All good. about 11am the wind changes direction and again we are head on into a 30+km wind. I’m kinda hope’n our luck changes sometime and we can ride with the wind.
Our intro to Antwerp was quite uninspiring. We road on bike paths but through a heavy industrial area. I think it was near the port so big machines and trucks, huge warehouses, big yards of storage and transfer of goods. We then travelled along some heavily used arterial roads, again not the first impression that makes one think you have arrived in Eden. Finally we get to the main square. Quite a stunning place but crowded and maybe not the place for a couple of North American bike riders to have to manoeuvre through.
We are spending the next two days off our bikes, wandering around Antwerp.