Today we left London.  Jan drove us to Liverpool Street Station where we boarded a train for Harwich – the bicycle folded in its bag.  On board we sat next to a couple heading to Holland for the weekend on their bicycles.  They were very helpful in answering our questions about cycling in the area.

 

One very helpful bit of information:  Signs with a blue background and white bicycle indicate we can go that way.  But signs with a red circle, white background, and black bicycle, indicates bicycles are not allowed!  (They don’t use the null sign with the line through the bicycle, like in the US.)

 

We got to do our first cycling in England!  After the train, we unfolded the bicycle in the ticket lounge and then rode it onto the ferry for Holland.  As some know, we recently changed to a Tandem Tuesday bicycle which both comes apart for shipping and folds.  It was really worth the switch.  It took us just a couple minutes to have the bike ready for riding.  Kudos to Bike Friday!

 

Our ferry is a hydroplane and gets us to Holland in about 3 hours.  It’s a smooth ride and quite pleasant.  But the outside of the ship is designed for low wind resistance, so Jon’s usual desire to feel the sea winds is restricted to two small decks on the back of the ship.

 

Cycling in Holland

 

So, now we have had our first experience cycling in a foreign country: where we do not speak the language nor did we know the traffic symbols.  But we made it to Delft – with help from a friendly native who not only got us back on the right route, but led us part way to Delft, explaining the various signs (including the one Jon misinterpreted – causing us to get lost in the first place) along the way.  Our little detour can be seen as a loop in the track record above.

 

But one of our biggest surprises happened when we arrived in Delft.  This Dutch town has really small streets weaving between buildings and canals.  In our tandem, towing a trailer, we’re almost too long to navigate some of them!