Travel day - From the low country to the highlands and beyond - CycleBlaze

August 23, 2018

Travel day

From Amsterdam to Newcastle, by boat

We're ready to go. Scotland and its mountain bike parks and trails await. 

Frans, our genial host, kindly offers to deliver us and our unwieldy bike bags to the tram terminus. Plan A was to spend an inordinate amount of time later this morning walking the fully loaded bike bags and added paraphernalia to the tram terminus, which may have entailed two trips for one of us. And would definitely have left us both hot and sweaty. So this is good news indeed.

Instead, after packing, we take just ourselves into the city by tram and enjoy a final unencumbered walk, indulging in ice cream, Heineken and souvenir-shopping. We're back at the houseboat by the agreed 2pm, load bikes in van, transfer to the tram, farewell Frans, wait patiently at Centraal Station for a coach . . and, finally, are aboard our overnight DFDS ferry by 4.30pm.

It's a cosy wee cabin up on Deck 9, made more intimate by the need to share with our bike bags. We have just enough energy left to leapfrog the bags to make it to our (price inclusive) buffet dinner while the ferry slips quietly out into a calm North Sea. 

Easy loading: Here come our bike bags, in their own elevator
Heart 0 Comment 0
Heart 0 Comment 0
Rate this entry's writing Heart 3
Comment on this entry Comment 0