From North to the South of Netherlands (NL), we cycled ~580km over 7 days. The idea of cycling from village to village over a relatively flat land appeals to me. More so in a land i now call home. The east of the Netherlands are so underrated and has more to offer than a heart desires. I can confirm that statement with confidence now that i have experienced it first hand.
A definite icing on the cake was to explore it with my fellow countrymen🇲🇾 Karima & Azlan. I mean, honestly, what are the odds of a Malaysian looking for adventure in the east of NL when one is often spoilt by the abundance of choices in the western and southern part of Europe.
We hit it off instantly, like 3 peas in a pod 🫛. This trip is about slowing down and engaging in our senses. Le Tour sure hit all high notes🥁!
Prep
I used a book as reference. A book i bought in 2021😅. In Dutch. Back then, reading it was a handful. But i bought it for the idea. Cycling the Pieterpad? Sounds like something i would love(eee) to try.
And boy am i proud to say “i got my Dutch figured out enough for me to dog-ear the important pages and us achieving our goal”
But a week to D-date, i had a bit of a scare, we noticed the total distance was different from the official one. I scramble a little, read the foreword of the book, noted why it is different, search the web for a supposedly .gpx files, and wrote to the publisher of the book for the file but after 2 days, no answer. 🥵.
Woke up one morning and figured why not plot the route using fietsknop app. I did. Took me 2-3 days 🤣. Honestly all these “revelations” came thanks to my dearest b&b guests whom i have had a chance to chat with during their stay. A tip here and there, and chop chop…
One shared about the Waals river crossing and how the boat was not going because the water was too low. 🥵 #shudder and i thought #worrylater #nothingicandoatthemoment
Day 0 : “Positioning ride”🤣 30km
Yes. Getting into position. A train ride from Holten to Groningen. 2-interchange. It was a challenge getting from platform to platform. And the bicycle cabin is not sufficient for 3 e-bikes. While we have the option to take a train to Winsum to start the positioning ride, we ended up cycling from Groningen. Well warm up ride and getting used to traffics from the right hand side.
Day 1 : Pieterburen > Anderen (76km)
From prep stage til day 1 , i have often fret over what if things did not go as planned; that i got the booking dates wrong, gpx files wrong, or mechanical problems with the bike. Well none of the above occurred. Small hiccups but none that would tamper the spirit. So highly charged were we and stoked to complete a multi day bike ride.
After a hearty breakfast, our Le Tour journey began. The start point was rather unassuming, in front of Hotel Waddengenot in the middle of a very small village named Pieterburen with circa 450 inhabitants. You won’t miss it even if you try. It quite literally says “Start Pieterpad”.
Azlan wanted to soak in the North Sea wind & breeze. We thought it not a bad idea although it is an extra 4km. Worth every km of it as it felt like cycling to the end of nothingness.
After a short tour to the North Sea, our journey officially begins. Achh… what do we have, road closure. Feeling rather raw with all the new app and gpx on my watch to follow, we ended up doing a few detours and finally decided to jump a few numbers to the town of Eenrum. At almost lunch time, we completed just 10km of a total planned 80km. The wind started to get really strong. A windforce 4 as i recall.
We did pass by the same route via Winsum twice, but the second time we took a break at this huge billboard.
A third of the way as dark clouds start forming, we took a pit stop at a “Rust” point. These are self service points attached to a farm house where one could pick up some warm drinks and make use of the WC. Almost always timely located i found it super handy.
We finally arrived in our accommodation “Herberg van Anderen” at around 1815. I felt pretty drained. Not so much because of the distance but the element of the day; wind, detours, sporadic rain showers, and the morning episode of my b&b.
The room was rather small relative to what we have enjoyed in Hotel Waddengenot and i let Karima settle herself in, unpacking and shower while i went downstairs to catch my breath and wrapping my head around the events of the day. It was a long day but nothing a great company and comfort food cannot fix. Figured hotel delivery it is, and for the first time i tried the infamous kapsalon ; oozing in calories but tasted rather heavenly.
Our final km logged was 85km instead of the initial 73km planned.
We passed Rolde, a village 3km before Anderen at ~1745 and saw some grocery shops and a grand cafe, and i quickly thought “perhaps we should have our dinner here”. But at that point i think all of us were focused on getting to the final destination of the day.
Day 2 : Anderen > Hardenberg (82km)
It was a very relax start. ☀️😎We started about an hour and half earlier so we have ample time to spend at Geertje’s home half way. There we charged our battery and made sure we had lunch! We got smarter and plan our meal in otherwise by evening, we would not be too nice to each other.
We went all out with our e-bike and set it on “Tour” mode very early on during our ride. Yes we felt like we had wings! 😎
The sunny weather was godsend. It alone was enough boost.
The route to Hardenberg was rather getting lost in our thoughts. lots of road works. passing town and villages and denser than normal. the green lungs was bygone on this route for now
We arrived at Odding’s place. Our b&b accommodation. Jan was our host. He was welcoming and we felt very quickly at ease being in his home. You can tell he is home proud, and most certainly very blessed with love from a very big family. It’s just his sincerity and openness in sharing his own common space with us; complete strangers which touches me. Even their home wi-fi & password🤐. I mean, wow. And this also rare given 80% of our accommodations were self check-ins. Which reminds me now, i better drop an outstanding review on booking for him🫶.
Day 3 : Hardenberg > Holten (58km)
Woke up early. The breakfast was enough and typically Dutch. Cheese, cold cuts, bread, ☕️ & eggs. It was a very sober breakfast. I mean just like everyday, but more so today, rather serious and focus because i am wary of the strict timetable to follow given we need to get home before 1230. I am also expecting customers checking into my b&b and Max🐾 needs to be looked after.
Murphy’s law. Start of the day. The almighty app “fietsknoop” did not work! Of allll days! Arghhh… All that appeared on screen was a list of numbers and a female voice “je nadeert knooppunt 8… klopt je route nog… beep beep beep *vibrate*” (“… you are approaching point 8… are you still on track?…”)
“ohmmm” 🪷🙏 Focus!
So, i have a watch with the gpx route on, while Azlan has his garmin edge on. I have to forget the map for the day, and rely on the number instead of a wider view of the map but it didnt take us long to get on the right direction. we took it really steady.
Day 4 : Holten > Elten (85km)
I was looking forward to this stage. I ran 2 stages of the Pieterpad (to Laren and Vorden) once and curious how it’s different from the cycling route. It did not disappoint!
We enjoyed stopping by the R points at achterhoek. One of them allows you to take a tour around the farm. The region is so green and pure. Forest so perfectly manicured.
Because it was so scenic we made plenty of stops. 😅 and we ended up having to rush to Elten in the last 20km.
On hindsight despite the rush in the end i am so glad we soaked in as much as we could on this day, not calculative over stops, not worrying about arriving late and just being. As it turned out, the landscapes as we moved south were less woods, but more suburbs and traffic.
Day 5 : Elten > Vierlingsbeek (71km)
My sister in law sent me a text early morning and said “it’s going to be a windy and rainy day”😱
It’s a comfort knowing that it’s a shorter distance today. It was shorter but it took us longer to arrive in Brabant. Because of the wind and rain.
Today was one of the most eventful ride of Le Tour. Just how everyone managed it so well despite the less than agreeable weather. Kudos to our knooppunsters!
i gotta say , there are plenty of moments where i felt connected to the animals so much so picking up a pack of meat these days cause guilt after my travel. #iwilldomybest🪴
cycling through the rain & wind with the backdrop of a windmill
Day 6 : Vierlingsbeek > Echt (100km)
It was the longest planned ride of 95.7km. We head off early after breakfast. About 8am.
I felt jubilant even before we started haha how is that for positive manifestation.
I was just relieved that everything went smoothly until today, and it felt to me like the 32-34km mark of a marathon run when no matter how tough it gets (later) you will cross the finish line. Mentally one will just pull through despite the physical lament or in this case the butt sore and the burning quads.
We stayed so focus. Very little pit stops. And on eco mode for as long as we could.
Little did we know what is to come later in the day that temporarily killed the jubilance😅.
Karima’s high school friend, Sharmini visited us at the B&B that evening. She brought us a lot of food including keropok and dried guava, a common Malaysian snack! What a sweetheart.
She then asked “how are you all getting home tomorrow after the final ride?” “Train…” “I think there are works on the platform from Maastricht…”
Yes and that lingering jubilance punctured for a moment while we figured out what our plan will be.
What we know for sure was “we gotta finish this!” and “we are not staying the night in Maastricht!… plane to catch the next day!”
Day 7 : Finale @St Pietersberg (57km + 28km)
This was to be our cool down & extra chill day ride. Well it was. Although subconsciously i knew celebration comes when we reached the Pieterpad frame and when we get on the train to Holten!
One can tell it is a Sunday! It’s like the entire street came to life. Walkers, hikers, cyclists, bikers etc.
We got to the end point on our route number 12. It did not dawn on me to plan the route towards Sint Pietersberg as i was expecting a signage or a route from thereon.
It was for a moment a little anti climactic but we quickly search and locate the route. How unassuming was it! (in my imaginary mind i imagined a big arch or sort with a nice viewing point – not too crazy to ask for i believe) Instead we were greeted with a pole and a crossroad 🤣 with a few bystanders who were busy with their daily chores perhaps.
We pause and locate the route. Found something online and press the “go” button but still unsure whether we are headed the right direction (given there was no signage and God am i already pretty exhausted from a week long of cycling)
We took a moment to truly soak in the sensation of knowing we plan this, we toed the start line and we cross the finish line. 🫶💪
And it is a wrap …
Ecstatic! What an indescribable feeling🧡
Ohhh how truly jubilant it felt when we finally got on the train towards Den Bosch. Even though it took another 3 hour to get to Holten , just knowing the train is moving and in the right direction offered comfort. At the back of my mind, i am aware my beloved knooppunsters still need to get on a plane the next day. Thus gotta get home safe & timely.
I am penning this down to keep the memory warm. Creating memories🧡
