Sunday, 22 June: I took the train to Peterborough on Saturday, arriving quite late in order to avoid a heat wave. On Sunday I cycled to Bury St Edmonds. Really nice cycling through a flat and picturesque part of England. I was impressed by the ruins of the old abbey at Bury, but what most moved me was a plaque to a massacre of Jews in the middle ages. I knew about the massacre of Jews at York in 1190, but I had not realised that there were also massacres elsewhere at this time.

Monday, 23 June: I had a short cycle from Bury to Ipswich. Again quite pretty countryside going through flat terrain. Ipswich seemed like a friendly town, and most importantly they had a bike shop which sold me a a light to attach to my handlebar bag (which I could not find in Aberdeen); without this my bike was technically illegal to ride in UK and Netherlands.

Tuesday, 24 June: I visited Sutton Hoo, which is near Ipswich. This is a famous UK archaeological site where an Anglo-Saxon boat was uncovered in a burial site, along with lots of gold and other artefacts; Netflix made an excellent movie about its discovery. It was great to see the famous burial mounds in person, as well as the attached museum.

Wednesday, 25 June: I cycled to Felixtowe, and took a small boat across the water to Harwich. Felixtowe is the biggest container ship harbour in the UK, and the port was enormous! I got a good view of some of the massive ships in the from the relatively tiny Felixtowe-Harwich ferry, as it crossed the water.

Thursday, 26 June: I took the ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland. I enjoy ferries, and I mostly sat outside watching the North Sea go by; there was usually something to see (other boats, windfarms, etc). Also snoozed for a bit on one of the outdoors benches. The ferry arrived around 5PM, and I cycled to Delft, where I spent the night at a hotel next to a casino (was fine).

Friday, 27 June: I cycled to Utrecht. Really nice countryside, with lots of lakes, canals, and other types of water. It was a joy to be cycling in a place where there are excellent cycle lanes everywhere. In UK, I sometimes end up cycling on busy roads with cars wizzing by at great speed; I realised that I didnt have to worry about this in Netherlands, any major road will have a proper bike lane attached to it! I spent the next few days staying with my friends Kees and Judith, who live in Utrecht.

Saturday, 28 June: Kees took me to Rotterdam, where he grew up. We went to a very interesting museum which uses artwork to describe migration; very different from anything I’ve seen before, but worked well. Since I am a migrant myself (I moved from USA to UK), this had extra meaning for me. Kees also showed me one of the areas he grew up in.

Sunday, 29 June: Kees and Judith took me on a small cycling trip to see a nearby castle and some other tourist attractions, which was very pleasant. I also really enjoyed just hanging around their house, especially their back garden (in the picture, with Kees), which was surrounded by greenery, we also sometimes heard the neighbour’s goats bleating.

Monday, 30 June: I had originally intended to cycle towards the German border, but I was worried about continued heat warnings, so I decided to cycle north to Alkmaar instead, which was cooler. The first part of the trip was along a huge canal (one of the largest I’ve seen) which went from Amsterdam to Germany via Utrecht. Very pretty, and I passed some impressive ships!

Tuesday, 1 July: This was the peak of the heat wave, so I left the bike at my hotel and took a train to Den Helder (at the north end of the penninsula above Amsterdam) and a ferry from Den Helder to Texel Island. The most memorable part of the day was visiting the Dutch naval museum (Den Helder is the navy’s base) and wandering around an old submarine attached to the museum. I knew that subs were cramped, but this brought home to me how little room there is in a submarine.

Wednesday, 2 July: When Kees was growing up, his family often went on holiday to Bergen aan Zee (near Alkmaar), so I spent the morning wandering around there. Huge beaches with lots of sand and not that many people (compared to beaches closer to Amsterdam), I see why it was popular. In afternoon I visited the Alkmaar Cheese Museum, and learnt lots about one of Netherlands most famous exports.

Thursday, 3 July: I cycled from Alkmaar to Leiden, partially along the North Sea coast. Lots of sand dunes, beaches, and scrubland; ie similar to the coast around Aberdeen in many ways, although of course more crowded. I guess my stereotypical image of Dutch countrside is fields full of cows (and I saw plenty of this), but there are also plenty of sand dunes!

Friday, 4 July: I wandered around Leiden during the day, visiting two excellent museums: Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (archaeology) and Wereldmuseum (ethnology). Leiden is not big, but has some great museums, perhaps because its university is the oldest in Netherlands. In the evening, I discovered that there was a parade outside my hotel, with the floats on boats instead of trucks! Totally unexpected, and I spent several hours watching (and listening to) the boat parade.

Saturday, 5 July: I cycled from Leiden to Hook of Holland, via The Hague. Distance was fairly short but I was going upwind, so a bit of effort. Anyways, very pleasant, nice countryside and also I liked seeing the Peace Palace in The Hague. In Hook of Holland I watched the ferry to Harwich go out. It is huge, I believe one of the biggest ferries going to UK.

Sunday, 6 July: I took the ferry to Harwich. It was raining, which made boarding the ferry unpleasant (cyclists have to wait in the rain with the cars), otherwise this was again a nice trip, and I waved goodbye to Netherlands. I also appreciated how big Rotterdam’s port is, much bigger than Felixtowe (which had really impressed me a few days ago).