Neder Neder Land

The wife and I have just returned from The Netherlands.  We took the opportunity of the long bank-holiday weekend to scoot over and have a few days cycling.  This is possible thanks to the excellent overnight ferry that runs between Harwich and Hoek Van Holland.  You get your travelling done as you sleep, meaning you don't waste a moment of precious free time.  We shot up to Harwich on Friday evening directly after work, clambered on board and were sipping refreshing halves before the ship had departed the dock.

We disembarked at 6.30 on Saturday morning, rested and ready for the day's travails.  They (the travails) weren't too onerous on day one; we cycled about 20 miles at about 10mph, with plenty of coffee breaks en route.  There's a charming coffee shop in the the picturesque town of Maassluis that we make a point of frequenting when we're there.  The weather was super too - sunny and warm/hot - which was doubly pleasing as apparently it was absolutely shithouse in the UK.  From there cycled into Rotterdam for our first night.

We've been to Rotters a couple of times before, but it's a big old place, so there's always scope to find a new neighbourhood.  I've got quite a thing for craft ale, so we shot down to a microbrewery in the former dockyard.  The area's quite rundown, but is being regenerated.  The old wharves have been turned into a food and entertainment complex, the Fenix Food Factory.  We shot down there on Saturday evening and sat on the dockside, enjoying a couple of sharpeners; it was super.  We also called into this place, a massive beer garden, which we'd been to before.

On Sunday we cycled to the university city of Leiden.  Again the weather was mighty.  The students are back at college, and the town was buzzing as a consequence.  We sought out another craft ale place, Lemmy's.  I was able to compare and contrast any number of Belgian dubbels there.  The missus reported the white wine to be passable too.  Bingo!

Yesterday, we cycled back to the ferry port at the Hook, and it was overnight to England last night.  Another brilliant crossing - I find it very easy to sleep on ferries.  The engine noise and the rolling and pitching of the ship have me under in no time.  So it was no bother to spring out of bed at 6am this morning and straight into work in London on the train.  Super.

Well done, the Dutch.  And thanks for having us.