Running and Cycling in Holland

Katrina and I caught the 6amKLM flight to Amsterdam on Wednesday 15th October. We left our bags at the Golden Tulip Hotel and walked into the city. In there afternoon we went on the Yellow Bike Tour of Amsterdam. It was excellent.

There were 12 in our group ….

We’ve not been to Amsterdam before but this was definitely the best way to see the city. Here is our route ….

We would ride for a few minutes then the guide would stop and tell us something about the city.

Here is a photo of the smallest house in Amsterdam …

It seems when they were built the family were taxed on the size of the front of true house so this one gets bigger the further back it goes … crafty!

We went past Anne Franks house. We did look into going there but it was sold out and involves a 2-3 hr wait to get in anyway.

We had a stop for a drink in the park ….

One of our group was running the marathon on Sunday and did say she had a spare number as one of her group couldn’t run but we weren’t tempted!

On Thursday morning I went out for a run. I wanted to run 6 miles and so decided to run 3miles out and 3 miles back. I ran through a local park and ended up coming back to our hotel at about 3miles to just ran round the same loop again …

When I ran on Tuesday I had a slight soreness in my groin and while it was a lot better I could still feel it so took it steady. It was raining for most of the run but the weather got loads better from mid afternoon onwards.

At 12noon we caught the train to Zutphen and spent the day and evening with my Mum and Sister and Brother-in-law.

On Friday morning I was up and out before breakfast for another run. This time I did do an out and back running on the cycle track alongside a main road. I was so impressed with the way Holland is set up for cycling and how everyone cycles everywhere.

My groin felt so much better so I pushed it a bit harder and felt good.

The wedding was in the afternoon. It was really interesting to see a wedding in Holland. They have the same parts as the UK but in a different order.

So Steve and Marlies went off for a couple of hours having photos taken around the city. Then close family and friend met at 2.30pm for coffee and cake followed by group photos.

Here is a photo of the happy couple with my Mum …

Here is a photo of Katrina & I with my Mum, sister and brother-in-law ….

After the group photos we went back to the restaurant for a lovely buffet meal and a short speech from Marlies’ Dad.

Then at 7pm we went across the road to the church for the service. Steve’s Pastor from Wrexham led the service which was in English with Dutch translation. Steve and Marlies play in an orchestra so they were all out side to play for them as a surprise.

We were then back across the road to the restaurant for the evening party. There were about 100 friends and family to that one. There were items from various people.

Sue, my sister, had written a song based on ‘Yellow Submarine’ which we had good fun singing ….

Marlies’ family sang a song based on ‘Rule Britannia’ ….

So it was a great day!

On Saturday Katrina and I hired bikes and went off for a cycle ride for the day …

There is an excellent system set up allover Holland with cycle tracks all linked together with nodes which are numbered so it was so easy to find your way round.

Here is our route …

At each main junction there is board with map and directions to the next junction …

We came to a river and there was no bridge … but there was a ferry who came over and took us over the river ….

We saw lots of Windmills and one was open to go in and have a look round ….

We stopped for lunch at a lovely lake ….

We really enjoyed the ride as there was a wide variety of views and bridges to cross …

We covered almost 54 miles with a total of 65ft ascent!!

We travelled home today arriving in Glasgow at 12.30pm to be greeted by rain!!

So we had a great time and really enjoyed our trip.