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Blog
Epilogue:
There have been several people without whom this ride would not have been possible. Firstly massive thanks to Angela who did a magnificent job booking hotels along the route for us and rebooking as mechanical problems necessitated changes to our original plan. Also an enormous thank you to my daughter Gemma who acted as blog writer, translating my phone calls into something readable. I will probably forgive her one day for the comment about the scarecrow. Along the way we must thank David Pantling for running us to Heathrow T5, and thanks to T5 for doing exactly what it was designed to do. A tremendous thank you to Angela's parents Guido and Anita who ferried us from the airport, gave us accommodation for the night and made us feel completely welcome. Guido then transported us to Andermatt. Finally to our fellow Rotarians who came to meet us making the last few days very enjoyable despite the wind and weather, finally transporting us home via Dunkirk to Dover and home. A sincere thank you to each and every one who has helped us along the way, it really is true that we could not have done it without you.
We made it!
Written Monday 30th June 2045 hrs
Our hotel on the outskirts of Rotterdam was undergoing improvements and
so had no kitchen. Despite this, they put on a quite respectable continental
breakfast. After the usual rigmarole of unloading the bikes from the van
we were on the Road by about 9 am. Following some discussion we had decided
to follow Tony's original plan and go across the dockland and via a ferry
over the Rhine rather than first heading for the central station as advised
by our (now largely ignored) guide book. The decision turned out to be
a good one as being an early Sunday morning few people were in work and
the roads were very quiet.
After cycling through a little of the city residential outskirts we soon found ourselves in the heart of the dockland which is truly colossal. We cycled past mile after mile of container docks and oil refineries. Also past a long line of modern electrical generator windmills majestically turning in the strong crosswind. There must have been in the order of 10 or more of these machines, I guess no one at all can complain about such things in such a heavily industrialised area. After perhaps a bit less than 20 miles of cycling we found ourselves at the ferry where we had a little wait before crowding onto the boat with what seemed like hundreds of other cyclists to cross the Rhine to make our way on the other bank to the Hook of Holland. This area on a Sunday morning appears to be a main area for cycling. We have been amazed to observe that all along the flat lands of the Rhine valley that cycling is as popular amongst women as it is men. This led to much ribald discussion which I shall not repeat on these pages!
As we crossed on the ferry it seemed at first as though it would rain again, but soon after began to brighten up. We had about another 10 miles to go and the weather was looking hopeful for the finishing photographs.
The opposite bank of the Rhine was much different and had a bit of a holiday feel to it. As can be expected in Holland almost without exception, excellent cycle ways led us to the Hook. Close to the end we passed a huge car boot sale which was clearly a local institution. Perhaps fortunately both time and luggage capacity on our bicycles prevented us from bargain hunting.
Just before noon we saw the first Hook of Holland signs and took some photos in case there was no better place later on. We wanted to get as close as we could to the place where the Rhine joins the North Sea, but by this time we were a little conscious that we had limited time. Following some consultation of the map we decided that we would get as far as we could along the promenade which heads out to the very long breakwater. We found that the wind was blowing strongly against us along this promenade and we realised that we needed to get a move on. A little further time was lost as I had not thought to unpack the charity T shirts from my bag in the van. Tony Abbot zoomed off to get them but owing to my unclear instructions came back with one missing. While Tony valiantly went back to get the missing one we shot off down the promenade to find a good spot and get some photos.
After a rather rapid and very wind blown photo shoot. We headed back. All a bit of a rush and no time to sit and take it all in , but it was all over. As there is no one place to go unlike Lands End to John O'Groats it was all a little bit of an anticlimax. However looking back on it with the slightly more rose tinted spectacles found after a little over 24 hours, it was a suitable end to what had proved to be a hard ride started 14 days earlier in a cold and rainy Swiss town of Andermatt.
Over the canals and into Rotterdam's docklands.:
Not far from ther Rhine crossing ferry:
Close to the end:
SPOT GPS showing our final position:
