Chris G’s cycling blogs. They’re for me, not you!

 No sunshine waking me up this morning, just the steady dribble of water from the shower in my room like water torture light, and the dribble of rain landing on the windowsill. Pulling back the curtains it looked very wet and I had left my coat in Jean back in Utrecht. With the unavailability of anything in Amsterdam, there was no choice really, I’d have a quick breakfast in the hotel and head out earlyish back to Utrecht.  The wind hadn’t completely changed direction which was a blessing, but instead turned into a crosswind. I didn’t fancy it along the wide canal route I’d come up on yesterday, so a quick look at the map found an alternative route (the beauty of the Netherlands is that there are lots and lots of options!) Just as I was coming out of Amsterdam I came across an immaculate 2CV with a funny badge on the back. It said Club E, but they never made a Club E. then the penny dropped, it was an electric conversion! Taking a few photos the guy came out of the building an...

 I Slept like a log last night and once again as I drew back the curtains it was bright blue sky and sunshine. I think I used all the bad weather up last month on the IOM! Umming and arring on what to do, I packed the Brompton bag as lightly as I could as I’d be leaving Jean in the underground car park come what may and cycling to Amsterdam at some point today, put everything I didn’t need in the car and set back off into town for some breakfast.  Just to see what the other routes into town where like, I ventured to the East of the city and with the sun on my back meandered into the centre to park the bike at the world famous Utrecht central station. Why is it famous? It’s got the largest underground bike park in the world! Completed in 2019 it’s basically a multi story car park for bikes, holding over 12,500 of them. I took a quick video going in and it’s mind blowing. Free for 24 hours as well. With the bike parked and locked on one of the upper bike racks it was straight up...

The day started early when a car crash outside my window at 7am (the airbag must have set the horn off!) woke me before the alarm went off and with the sun already beating down and not a cloud in the sky there was no point trying going back to sleep, so out onto the balcony to plan the day ahead. Although the plan last night was to go out on the bike first, I decided I’d get to The Zollverein early doors and wing it with a bike ride once I’d done the museum, depending on weather and time. It was genuinely warm when I struggled from the hotel with Brompton and 2 bags to where I’d left Jean overnight. As mentioned, Essen wasn’t the nicest place I’d ever been, and with the hotel being on the budget end of the scale in a budget end of town, I was a bit worried about her. There she was though, resplendent in the morning sun and after throwing the bags in the bag it was off with the roof and the 6 or so miles through the rush hour to North Essen and the Zollverein.  Wow. It was massive! ...