London to Paris overrated? Try cycling from London to Amsterdam instead... sponsored
While the classic London to Paris ride is about as iconic as Land's End to John O'Groats, in my opinion it's a little overdone. Did you know that in just as many kilometres, you can pedal your way through four countries in four days? England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, via the historic city of Bruges before finishing in the incredible city of Amsterdam.
Faversham, home of Britain’s oldest brewer Shepherd Neame, would’ve made a good place to stop, but we pushed on up possibly the climb of the day from Staple Street to Canterbury for a much-needed hydration and ice cream stop... Very soon we had left the port behind and were cruising along in peloton formation chewing up the kilometres on pan flat, well-tarmacked roads. Our first stop was Dunkirk, 40km in, where we paid a visit to the Dunkirk memorial which commemorates more than 4,500 casualties of the British Expeditionary Force who died in the campaign of 1939-40 and who have no known graves.
With the cycle paths being completely flat and beautifully smooth there was no test to the legs or lungs; but for someone like myself, who is not used to putting two long rides together, the challenge was putting the aches and pains to the back of my mind. It was a very welcome, then, when we reached Bar Boer 25km from Bruges just off the cycle path.
From Vlissengen we rode North across Middelburg past endless sand dunes. The monotony was certainly a challenge at this point; a hill, junction, or even a bend in the road would’ve been a welcome distraction. Our one regret was not grabbing 20 minutes for a swim at one of the beautifully calm and quiet beaches we passed.
We arrived in Rotterdam tired, thirsty and hungry, and made a mistake that we’d already made a couple of times before... contactless payment technology and card machines in general still haven’t infiltrated this part of the world. We ordered drinks at the Teddy Bear Bar and had no way of paying, but hearing our fundraising endeavours the lovely landlady gifted it to us on the house. We have a few tokens stacked up in the ‘pay it forward’ column.
Belgique Dernières Nouvelles, Belgique Actualités
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