Near the main station in Rotterdam, nestled amongst a wall of tenement houses and pubs, lies a small, cluttered workshop. From somewhere between the jumble of bicycles, wheels and metal, appeared the only man that knew any sort of order to the apparent chaos. A busy, oil blackened hand pulled a cigarette away from a…
It’s actually the fourth time I’ve been here now and to the same hostel too. For the last month I’ve been working in the hostel, and I’ve had a taste at what it’s like to live here. I even managed to get out of my very first day of work after being sick in a…
I packed up early afternoon and began cycling through the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam, leaving the traffic, bikes and people behind, heading west on a quiet and straight cycle path towards the city of Haarlem. The rain was pelting down nearly the whole way so that by the time I had reached Haarlem, I…
From London, I took the train to Brugge, in North-east Belgium. The only noticeable change from the last time I was here being the sun to brighten up the dreary clock tower. Down a cobbled street, I found my way to the hostel I stayed at previously by passing the four windmills on the outskirts.…
My plan as of two days ago: Cycle back across the coast of the Netherlands, to Rotterdam, take a few nice pictures of windmills or something, and sum up my trip. Reality: Got to Netherlands, didn’t want to pay for boat across river, decided to take long way round via tunnel. Cycled 20km to tunnel,…
I cycled past this today. It’s the weirdest bug I’ve ever seen
We went into the city centre today. Man it was so busy. I guess I always thought Amsterdam would be a chilled out place but it’s like a street party or something here. I think with it being Saturday and the weather being nice probably made it a bit more chaotic. It’s pretty easy to…
We arrived in Amsterdam tonight. Cycled around 60km or so in the blazing sunshine. We were greeted by a dude hanging out the first floor window – Nat, who has kindly let us stay here in his student appartment for a few days. It’s nice not sleeping in a tent!
Cycled just south of Leiden last night. Found a little deserted car park with a little wooded area just off a back road and pitched our tent.Cooked dinner and just about to eat when this police car came round the corner into the car park where we were sitting. They both came up to us…
Popped by the Peace Palace this morning, it’s the most photographed building in The Hague, so I thought I would join in. The guided tours weren’t running which is a shame cause I kinda wanted to see inside. We went to see the Panorama Mesdag instead. This guy, William Mesdag, painted 360 degrees around, 14…
Cycled from our luxurious campsite to Den Haag (The Hague) today. Probably only took an hour to get to the hostel, Yorplace. Nice wee place though. It’s like a surfer dude place, where people walk around in sandals and talk really slow. It took me a while to move from the free massage chairs. After some…
Visited the small town of Delft today, about 10-15km South-East from the centre of The Hague. It’s a lovely looking place, and some of the buildings were spectacular. Canals criss cross the city, lined with narrow cobbled roads and little back lanes. Like everywhere in Holland, bikes dominate. We really struggled to find somewhere to camp tonight.…
DEAF, or the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival was great. There was so much going on there it would be impossible to write it all down. The exhibition hall, where most of the volunteers worked wasn’t busy today so we had time to look round all the exhibits for free. There was one which I found…
Wild camping in The Netherlands is illegal (90 Euro fine). So you do need to pick your spots. I can only afford to stay in hostels some of the time and couch surfing only goes so far so inevitably, I need to camp at some point. I do feel bad about dodging the ‘tourist tax’ (do…
Well a job of sorts. Owen took me to where he had been volunteering today – The Dutch Electronic Arts Feastival, or DEAF – as it turns out they were looking for more staff. So they put me on the till and information point, which is funny because I don’t speak the language. Not only…