clairedavieswriter

After all the train-related excitement (see part 1), by the time I reached Maastricht I was more than ready to get back on two wheels. And of course the obvious thing to do on a boiling hot day was to ride away from my destination, so I could start my Netherlands end-to-end properly.
However, I found that, while visitors from the Netherlands are welcomed to Belgium in style:

There was nothing at all for those travelling in the other direction, so instead here’s a picture of Bernard on the Albert Canal, which marks the border

On the way, we greeted a recent acquaintance in the form of the river Meuse

And as we wove through the streets of old Maastricht we made our first acquaintance of Dutch cycling culture. There were a few too many cobbles for Bernard’s liking, and Guillaume found the knooppunts (nodes) hard to follow. As for me, the cycle paths were fantastic but I found it all a bit overwhelming, in the same way as Bruges had been. I suspect that until I’ve acclimatised to the rules and customs, I will be in greater danger of being mown down by a bike than a car, because they come at you from all angles and I might behave in a way they aren’t expecting. I was quite happy to get out of town and enjoy wholesome sights like this: two boys who can’t have been older than 10, riding to football practice on their own

And when the sun got too hot there were convenient bridges to shelter under

Which offered an excellent perspective on how canals in the Netherlands continue to be valuable arteries for commercial traffic

And whose towpaths make excellent cycle paths (word of the day: fietspad)

We saw a variety of fietspads today, from this:

To this:

Which really wasn’t their finest work. When I arrived at my hotel, the young woman showing me to my room pointed out I had grass burrs in my socks, adding guilelessly ‘we usually see them on dogs’

It was a very hot ride, and in any case I had a promise to keep, so I can confirm that my beer drought has broken. The brew I eventually sampled wasn’t Leffe, Affligem, Delirium Tremens or Paix Dieu. It was Alfa, and was certainly my number one choice tonight. As I write, the literal drought has also broken – will I be digging out my waterproofs tomorrow?

Who knows, but one thing is for sure, I’m going to have to learn some Dutch…