Day 31 - Biking v Boating
Tuesday 9th August 2016
It is around 400km from Heiderscheidergrund to Alkmaar in the Netherlands. But it is almost all on the highway so it should be a relatively easy ride.
The weather forecast is a bit mixed though with rain forecast for later. However the sun is shining on the High Chapparal when I bid goodbye to Ed after a ham and eggs breakfast in the bar.
I'll certainly be back again to this idyllic spot in the rolling Luxembourg hills.
I'm no longer in Germany so I have to moderate my speed on the Belgian and Dutch motorways. Just as well in Belgium where the road surfaces are as bad as back home in England.
I ride up to Liege where the
motorways are not joined up, so I have a slow drag through the city
centre along the bank of the mighty River Meuse.
It takes 15 minutes to struggle through the city, then it's back onto the highway and before long I am ride over the border into the Netherlands.
The next city on the route is Maastricht, of treaty fame. And again the highway system is not joined. The city is very busy and there are a lot of roadworks to negotiate, but eventually I am back on the A2 for a quiet run up past Eindhoven and Utrecht and finally to Amsterdam.
The
rain arrives as I approach Amsterdam. It's not too heavy though and my
route takes me west of the city, past Schiphol which must be the
biggest airport in the world, and on north up to Alkmaar.
My brother-in-law Phil Roberts has a beautiful motor boat which he presently keeps in Holland and spends his summers exploring the huge network of canals, rivers and inland seas that crisscross the country here.
The Dutch waterways are minutely managed with precision levels and fully automated bridges and locks. Many lovely old towns are dominated by their canals and powered lifting bridges on roads, railways and even motorways allow access right into town and city centres.
Detailed charts allow Phil to work out where he can and cannot navigate. Water levels are so carefully controlled that the minimum bridge heights are always exactly correct to the charts.
The Akaroa has twin Diesel engines, satellite navigation, radio, sonar and even radar and is capable of sailing anywhere in the world with the only restriction being fuel capacity.
Phil invited me to join him on board for a couple of weeks last year and again in May, earlier this year. Motorcycle touring and boating are pretty much my two favourite pastimes but I never expected to combine the two.
Around 3pm I trickle into Alkmaar and follow the satnav to the canal-side address that Phil has provided, and I "moor up" on the quayside next to the Akaroa. We have both been pursuing our solitary journeys through Europe for a while so it's great to catch up on all the news of our decidedly different travelling tales, and in English too!
We go for a wander in the pretty old town centre that styles itself the Venice of the North. It is dominated by a building that I assume is a church but turns out to be the cheese market. There's an awful lot of cheese to be had in this part of the Northern Netherlands.
Every Thursday the market comes alive with
huge wheels of cheese arriving for sale on the stone 'cheese tables' via
boat and road. The rest of the time the narrow streets, squares and
alleyways are filled with tourists sitting at outdoor tables at the
myriad cafes, bars and restaurants that fill the city centre.
We tour a few bars and get talking to a Dutch girl from Alkmaar, with a boyfriend from Seahouses on the Tyneside coast. He is a sheep shearer by trade and was living and working in New Zealand until they met there and drifted back to Alkmaar.
We have a very good meal in an authentic canal-side Italian restaurant, veal for me and liver for Phil. Then it is time to head back to the Akaroa and a good night's sleep in my comfortable bunk in the bow cabin.
It is around 400km from Heiderscheidergrund to Alkmaar in the Netherlands. But it is almost all on the highway so it should be a relatively easy ride.
The weather forecast is a bit mixed though with rain forecast for later. However the sun is shining on the High Chapparal when I bid goodbye to Ed after a ham and eggs breakfast in the bar.
I'll certainly be back again to this idyllic spot in the rolling Luxembourg hills.
 |
| High Chapparal breakfast |
I'm no longer in Germany so I have to moderate my speed on the Belgian and Dutch motorways. Just as well in Belgium where the road surfaces are as bad as back home in England.
 |
| Alkmaar |
It takes 15 minutes to struggle through the city, then it's back onto the highway and before long I am ride over the border into the Netherlands.
The next city on the route is Maastricht, of treaty fame. And again the highway system is not joined. The city is very busy and there are a lot of roadworks to negotiate, but eventually I am back on the A2 for a quiet run up past Eindhoven and Utrecht and finally to Amsterdam.
My brother-in-law Phil Roberts has a beautiful motor boat which he presently keeps in Holland and spends his summers exploring the huge network of canals, rivers and inland seas that crisscross the country here.
The Dutch waterways are minutely managed with precision levels and fully automated bridges and locks. Many lovely old towns are dominated by their canals and powered lifting bridges on roads, railways and even motorways allow access right into town and city centres.
 |
| Phil and the Akaroa |
Detailed charts allow Phil to work out where he can and cannot navigate. Water levels are so carefully controlled that the minimum bridge heights are always exactly correct to the charts.
The Akaroa has twin Diesel engines, satellite navigation, radio, sonar and even radar and is capable of sailing anywhere in the world with the only restriction being fuel capacity.
Phil invited me to join him on board for a couple of weeks last year and again in May, earlier this year. Motorcycle touring and boating are pretty much my two favourite pastimes but I never expected to combine the two.
Around 3pm I trickle into Alkmaar and follow the satnav to the canal-side address that Phil has provided, and I "moor up" on the quayside next to the Akaroa. We have both been pursuing our solitary journeys through Europe for a while so it's great to catch up on all the news of our decidedly different travelling tales, and in English too!
 |
| My two favourite modes of transport |
We go for a wander in the pretty old town centre that styles itself the Venice of the North. It is dominated by a building that I assume is a church but turns out to be the cheese market. There's an awful lot of cheese to be had in this part of the Northern Netherlands.
 |
| Alkmaar's cheese market |
We tour a few bars and get talking to a Dutch girl from Alkmaar, with a boyfriend from Seahouses on the Tyneside coast. He is a sheep shearer by trade and was living and working in New Zealand until they met there and drifted back to Alkmaar.
We have a very good meal in an authentic canal-side Italian restaurant, veal for me and liver for Phil. Then it is time to head back to the Akaroa and a good night's sleep in my comfortable bunk in the bow cabin.
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