A Long Way For A Curry

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' ho...

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...

  15/05/25 - Day Three I woke in the night several times to the screaming of some sort of animal. It would have scared me more perhaps had I not been half asleep. I remember thinking to myself either an owl or a fox. As I was beginning to pack the tent away I heard heavy machinery rumbling near by, in a startled panic I began to pack away as fast as I could. I could see the top of some farm vehicle across the field moving parallel but away from me. Hoping they wouldn’t continue round the perimeter to my side I placed my panniers on my racks and skirted the field the opposite way - reaching the road undetected.  Rolling through the early morning countryside helped to wake me up and then I was at Woodbridge. I took a detour into the town centre and sat outside a deli and enjoyed a coffee while people watching and listening in on people’s conversations. A great pastime, but sadly won’t be long lived, as soon I won’t be able to understand anyone! It was a grey day and it took its...

14/05/25 - Day Two  The early starts will begin when I have full confidence in my body, besides I needed to wait till the bike shops were open so I could resupply after yesterdays punctures. Extra caution was the order of the day and so after only 8 miles out of Norwich I took my first rest - a good opportunity to read up on how the hell my multi fuel stove works. I had meant to test it out last weekend in wales but we were weak and succumbed to the temptation of some pub grub.  The next tentative stint took me to Harleston where I basked in the sun and drank coffee, catching myself in the shop reflection made me giggle as I remembered my outrageous haircut, and wondered what everyone else who saw me must be thinking. I look like a rare beast to say the least. I carry on for a little while before lunching at the side of the road on a pepper, bread and hummus. A lady checks in to see if I’m ok as she passes me for a second time and I haven’t moved!  The pleasant undulatio...

      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...