Day Five

17/05/25 - Day Five


Oh we’re cooking now baby. Things are starting to come to fruition. Slept well in Marleen's garden, and just before I was about to get into my tent Marleen's husband came into the outhouse. I can’t remember his name now (I want to say Martijn) and we chatted for a little while about my trip amongst other things. He works in something to do with farming, and they live in the greenhouse region of the Netherlands! 

On leaving their house for The Hague (den Haag), there were a lot of greenhouses and I was struck by the ingenuity of the Dutch. With space a limited commodity in this country - even more so than the UK - they seemed to use lots of available space for farming. The symbiosis of rural and urban meshed together into an unbroken weave. Nevermind German efficiency, this was Dutch. 

On arrival in the centre of The Hague I sat down with a coffee and assessed the plan for the day. 50 miles to Utrecht and there were a couple of 'welcometomygarden' hosts there. I messaged them both and set off, eager to crunch some miles. My calf was feeling decent and the sun was now shining so my mood turned to elation. I cruised along looking left and right and left again, taking in all the novel views of the Dutch surroundings. The cycle infrastructure making the UK look like a joke! After 20miles flying by I bought some lunch in the town of Hazerswoude-Dorp and pushed on a little further before stopping to eat. After trying my hardest not to stuff my face too much I began again. 

Before lunch I had been playing around with my foot positioning in an attempt to ease the strain on my calf - this promptly backfired as my left lateral knee now began to feel strained. I rested after 8 miles and after that it only got worse. Fearing my IT band I decided to walk the remaining 10miles to Utrecht. Hardly ideal but given my host had work till 9:30pm it was time I could spare. “White girl bangers” playlist on Spotify inserted straight into my dome was the natural course of action in a moment like this. I happily bobbed along in the warm afternoon and five miles later I tentatively tried to cycle again. Result: success! As long as I kept to 8/9mph it seemed not to flare up. 

I went straight to a bar on arrival in Utrecht and saw off a couple of pints while I read and killed some time while my host for the night was at work. I then bumbled round the streets on my bike weaving in and out of the crowds - generally soaking in the Saturday night buzz. I found the impressive cathedral of st Martin too! I then ended up sitting dejectedly on a bench, my two pint buzz was wearing off and I was tired, not to mention sick of waiting around. I scranned some peanuts and a sandwich to fill the last of the time, then pedalled northwards to the suburbs. 

On my way to my hosts apartment, anxious thoughts started to creep into my mind. It was getting dark, I was heading to areas unknown to me, to meet an unknown man and stay on his sofa! What if he has nefarious intentions? I knew I was being fanciful but it’s easier said than done to quieten those types of thoughts when the conditions are ripe for them to latch on. However, I needn’t have feared. I waited outside Jacob’s apartment expecting to catch him on his way home, but there was no sight of him for 10/15 minutes. Just as I was googling hostels in Utrecht, I heard someone yell quietly “Louis?”. It was Jacob calling down from his balcony! He came down to meet me and we exchanged niceties, locked my bike away and entered his flat. I met his flatmate Bram, and we chatted for a bit and small talked. I hopped in the shower and when I came out, they played fifa and I watched, and we chatted some more. 


Cruisin'
 
 

 
 
Lunch Spot


Cafe Marktzicht - recommended by Jacob

Cathedral of St Martin

Waiting for Jacob outside his apartment

 

The boyyyyyyssss - playing fifa
 

Comments

  1. JasperMay 23, 2025 at 2:00 AM

    Nice to meet you Louis! It was a pleasure to host you. Save travels

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

So it begins...

Image
      13/05/2025 - Day One My life for the past 6 months has all been leading up to this moment, this day, D day. On the back of a tiring weekend I wasn’t sure I’d have the resources to set off on the 13th, but I made it happen (just about). I still had quite a lot to do this morning so when I finally set off it was around 3:30pm. Jack gave me a great haircut that is reminiscent of something out of Mongol or Mount and Blade : bald except a patch at the back like a horses main. Excellent. With the parents and Archie in tow, we set off down our lane and over the ford. It was a weird feeling cycling away from my house down familiar roads with the knowledge I wouldn’t be back for many months. These familiar sights are to be some of the last for a long time. It didn’t quite feel like I had gone away yet.  We had only got 4 miles when mums tyre went flat. Dad set about trying to locate the puncture as we all looked on with anticipation. Yet despite our best efforts i...
Read more

Day Four

Image
16/05/25 - Day Four I woke to my alarm at 6:30am, the ferry to the Netherlands was at 9am with check in closing 45mins before. After 5 mins of squirming around waking up I braved the chill and unzipped my bag and began packing away my things. I left at 7:20. I hope I get more efficient at breaking camp as I didn’t even cook breakfast, and that just seems like an awfully long time to be faffing around.  I cycled back into Harwich and grabbed a meal deal for the ferry, before rolling down to the port. It’s a bit of kick to cycle through places you would normally drive, like passport control and along the ramparts and onto the ferry. What was even more of a buzz was the euphoria of leaving port, the sense that the journey had only really just begun in earnest! I watched from the outside deck as we pull out of the estuary and into the sea. The journey itself was 8 hours of filling time and completely uneventful, except for being told off for lying down - how naughty of me! I was asked...
Read more

Day Seven

Image
    19/05/25 - Day Seven I struggled to wake up this morning so snoozed till 8am. By the time I had broke camp, cooked and forced down my porridge it was 9:40, so I didn’t hang about. Just before reaching Arnhem, I stopped at the Arnhem and Oosterbeek War Cemetery, commemorating the fallen allied troops (mostly British and 79 Poles) who fought at the battle of Arnhem. This was part of the wider Operation Market Garden in the area, Band of Brothers watchers will remember this. It was a powerful moment as I had the place to myself, and, ever since applying for the marines these types of things have made me more emotional.  After a healthy hit of silent reflection, I mashed the pedals once more, and soon I was sipping coffee in a sunny Arnhem square. I asked the waitress if she knew anywhere I could buy some Oliebollen (Dutch doughnuts), but tis not the season! I cracked on and crossed the river twice on ferries which will never not give me a kick. I then sat ...
Read more