Monday 17 March 2014

Rotterdam

Rotterdam
Uh, Daisey we have 12% battery left and we are only on the outskirts of Rotterdam! 
B*******! How were we supposed to find our hostel with no battery on either phones! Hopefully we will get there in time if we don't encounter any problems... BAM, roadworks! Again! Thankfully Sam was on a mission and went pro directions~giver as we cycled through the suburbs. Some what frantic we made our way through the suburban landscape. It was pretty cool actually, lots of houses on the canal and river ... it was very peaceful then pow, city centre excitement!
We love Rotterdam and it's glittery pavements! We've both enjoyed cycling at night time, especially when it's chilled and fresh. You also get to view the new city from a different angle and what a spectacular view we had entering Rotterdam! As the lights danced on the water, the pavements sparkled and the buildings shone; it really was the city of lights. Every where you looked something glittered and sparkled under the clear sky. Although everything had their own crystal colour, there were art sculptures and cleverly lit buildings that lent their pop of colour to the city's canvas. This city oozed contemporary freshness combined with clunky industrious buildings and it was yet another city we fell for; like night time creatures drawn to the compelling bright lights.
The next day we took a stroll around the waterfront, starting from the cube hostel and ending by the big San Francisco-esque bridge. We could picture this city in the summer - people dragging out their chairs, putting on their sunnies and soaking up the rays with good music and good people and great beer - it didn't have the business drive that The Hague did, nor did it have the tranquil setting Bruges had; it had something all of it's own. A city with a creative and social outlook. It seemed to be driven by the good life. Ahh, we had to say good bye to Rotterdam too soon as we started for the penultimate journey to The Hague.

Friday 14 March 2014

Antwerp

It was supposed to be a relatively straight forward long cycle. We had planned it to take the whole day, not sure if we had planned 14.5 hours of cycling though! We passed through the Belgium-NLands border of Pute, where I dropped my camera in a midst of road traffic of cars, motorbikes and mobs of competitive racing cyclists. Thankfully it didn't take much to retrieve it! After cycling a while after Pute, we realised that we couldn't use much of the A roads in the NL. It was a bit confusing as some parts were okay for bikes, others weren't. So where we had planned to use the A roads we had to find an alternative route; when we reached klutsdrop we spent roughly an hour cycling around trying different routes to get from A to B without being able to use the main road. Frustratingly enough, we could see the town we needed to get to on the other side of the road, but knew we had to do a huge detour because of the frequently reoccurring road works blocking the way. Ugh, it was so frustrating! So we decided to cycle back on ourselves for the fourth time, and just try and see if we would get any closer to the town... It ended up taking us straight through the town, across the A road via the bridge we'd been staring at for an hour, and on to the right cycle path - all in the matter of five minutes!!! We've been through this kind of thing countless of times but still hadn't learnt to trust our instincts. The next big obstacle was getting in to Rotterdam. It was the same trouble we'd had earlier with the Aroads, because this time we had noticed on the google maps it said a ferry service was required. Eh? Hang about?! A ferry service to get into the city? At this time it was about six pm and we were frantically trying to see if there was an alternative route to the ferry as we had no idea what time the service stopped. We had decided just to go to Oud Beijerland and hope there was a ferry service!! So we cycled all of the back roads avoiding the planned route of the A road, and finally reached Oud Beijerland. A sleepy little town near the river. After cycling around in circles trying to find our a ferry, we stopped in to a bar and asked for information, the waitress directed us to the port but said that she didn't know what time they stopped. We tried that place a try again, and again it was unsuccessful. By this time we were getting hungry and decided to stop for a bite to eat in Bavarian bear bar - imagine a big wooden shack with teddy beads everywhere... Yeah. Lovely food and service- just what the doctor ordered. After finding a bar with wifi ... And of course, it had to be a bar! We found out that there was a tunnel that crosses under the water, in to Rotterdam so off we went! And the tunnel was epic! Zooming down the tunnel and up the other end, we were in Rotterdam which led to a spectacular city entrance which I will give proper attention to, right after my sleep in this sketchy Amsterdam hostel!

Tuesday 11 March 2014

Antwerp

I am trying to remember the cycle to Antwerp but we have cycled so much and now that I am in The Hague, it seems like it was moons ago! Ah yes, Brussels to Antwerp was fairly uneventful. 30miles in the sunshine, through small Belgium towns. When we arrived in Antwerp, we were so excitable, this place was gorgeous! There was an absolutely beautiful sunset over the river, so he first stop was a picture in front of a bright pink, orange and dusky purple backdrop. Then, directly in front of us was a kingly cathedral overlooking the whole of Antwerp with a proud dominance. We headed for that direction and quickly noticed Antwerp was quietly rich and a luxurious place. Ferraris and porches rolled around, yet no where had a boastful air to it... It's hard to put in to words, but if you wanted to get a feel of the city then I suppose that's something worth noting. After a meal in the square, we started towards our hostel, which was the complete opposite of quiet luxury. It was a really hippy vibed hostel. The front room - it felt that homely!- had wicker chairs, low lights, dusty ornaments and a couple of sofas. Oddly there were two armless full mannequins nailed to the wall...
The room we stayed in had 14 beds in, and that was just one room of three floors in this old rickety house. The breakfast was really nice there, the lady put on a typical spread of cold meats, cheese, bread and a selection of spreads with coffee and juices - I've really grown to like a jam sandwich and a coffee in the morning! So yes, that was the hostel. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay in Antwerp that long (sad face) as we had to set out for the long cycle to Rotterdam. The more we told people about our cycle to Rotterdam the more unsure we felt ... A shocked 'Oh! Good luck' usually followed! But it was forecasted for 19 degree Celsius and boy it didn't disappoint!

Monday 10 March 2014

Brussels

The great thing about cycling through towns and cities, is that you get to go trough the suburbs and get a real feel for the place. Brussels really was rough around the edges but this was a welcomed change. We both love a gritty city - well, personally only if I don't have to stay there for too long. So when Brussels revealed itself to be just that - a gritty, unashamed city, it added a new colour to Belgium's pristine white. We spent the day enjoying the sunshine and getting lost in the vast city. We even acted like real tourists and visited the atomium - a huge structure shaped like an atom with great view from the top. It had the fastest lift in Europe and the views really were stunning from the top. We could see our next destination - Antwerp. In the evening we headed for the hostel bar determined to have a great time only it was dead!! The two ladies who worked there were so friendly, and recommended we go to Mr. Wongs, a club with a house and techno soundtrack. It was almost as if Sam and I had been fun restricted and although not true, we went a tad crAzy! Keeping up the British stereotype we drank our body weight in drink and rather enthusiastically took up the whole dance floor with our over energetic dance moves. The Belgians were a little shy but upon reflection they probably just thought it best to stay clear from the alchies. Ahh, it was a blast! Stumbling home, after theeee best pack of chips and without getting into our pjs, we fell in to a deep deep sleep, only to be woken 6 hours later ready for our next big cycle to Antwerp.

Bruges

Bruges is looooovely! ~ Samuel Stokes 2014.
Sam summed it up nicely, Bruges really was lovely! In a city where bikes are left unchained and parked up outside cafés, shops and parks, and where at night the cobbled streets are only trodden on by couples taking romantic strolls, quiet tourists and friendly drunks, I think it's safe to say  we fell in love with bruges quiet quickly. 
We spent the evening sipping on peach flavoured beer for me, and Duval for Sam in the hostels bar. Perfect way to spend the evening after wandering around the winding streets. 
We took a relaxed approach to the cycle the next morning, it was nice not to feel any pressure, and so when a lovely man suggested we take an alternative and more picturesque route we thought 'why not?!'. It wasn't until we were meandering through remote Belgium towns that we realised we were very lost! It didn't matter though as the weather was glorious and the views were beautiful. It also helped that we were kick ass at navigation so made it to Ghent in good time. Ghent was a city we rather unjustly judged - I mean, the name in itself is enough to put you off, right?! But it was so cool! It was a city mixed with historic buildings and a young city vibe. We made it in to Ghent at 430 and restricted ourself to half an hour break. Whilst we munched on home made sandwiches, people headed towards the river to soak up the rays and drink ice cold beer. We were so jealous - we had over half of our journey to go - rather reluctantly we headed for the WORST leg of the journey. EVER. It was horrendous. Time went slowly, it felt as though we weren't making any distance, my legs hurt, Sams tooth aches and by the time we reached our checkpoints the air around us was blue and we were cursing Assalt and Asse - where was Brussels!! Anyway, without dwelling on that dark patch, we reached hostel at around 10 and collapsed into a slumber.

Saturday 8 March 2014

Loon-plage

Loon-Plage.
Earlier I mentioned that we didn't actually dock in Dunkirk. We landed in the ports next to the village of Loon-Plage. This ended up adding a further 9 miles to our journey and we cycled a total of nine hours (including rest stops). Dunkirk to the Belgium boarder was pretty uneventful, we peddled hard in the sunshine. Oh yeah, there was that time when I had to use a shady looking gambling cafe to use the toilet, I felt obliged to sit down and gulp a coke down in front of several looming men, let's just say I didn't stay too long! 
When we reached the Belgium boarder, after a quick pose in front f the boarder sign we cycled through and instantly fell in love with Belgium. It's clean, most people smile, it's uber cycle friendly and their architecture kept us entertained throughout.
To begin with we cycled along the beach path, watching people play on the beach... In March, what luxury! Eventually it was too busy for us to cycle along, so we headed for the roads where we were beeped at by the tram soooo we headed to the bigger roads and cycled straight for Bruges. The last leg of this trip took us along a tranquil canal route, where the only sounds that could be heard were the singing birds, crickets and Sam moaning. Actually, to be fair we were both pretty sore at this point but the natural beauty of the sunset and nature kept us merry until we reached the quiet centre of Bruges.

Dunkirk.

Dunkirk.
What's funnier than catching a ferry to Dunkirk that doesn't actually dock in Dunkirk? Having to find your way in the dark to the hotel you've booked, in Dunkirk!
Okay, well thankfully it actually wasn't too far away from the port- we only got lost once, and once we did get there, we received a complementary drink! I think that was because we tried to phone up earlier and my poor, poor French couldn't stretch far enough to say we were lost and would have a late check in... I really wish I'd paid attention during French class!
After a refreshing shower and falling captive to a silent French film, we fell asleep, resting our heads in preparation for the cycle the next day!