Die Klassik-Weltmesse Essen and round Holland on the Clown Bike - Day 2 The Zollverein World Heritage Site and up to Utrecht!

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! As I was so early I also had a chance to park Jean in the empty car park to try and get her in as good a position for a photo as possible! The main coal sorting building was where the Ruhr museum was situated and with the choice of the escalator or stairs to get up to the visitors centre I mistakenly took the stairs arriving some 24 meters later puffing like Declan as I’m passing him up a hill…

The museum wasn’t open until 10, but the cafe was. I think it is, without doubt, the most spectacular place I’ve ever had a cup of coffee and a chocolate croissant (I could have had a ham one, but there is a world shortage as KC’s auntie had used them all feeding uncle Joe on his visit to Mayo…) and although you could walk round the whole site for free, it was a paltry €10 to gain access to the Ruhr museum and even more importantly, to get up on the roof viewing platform. Up yet more stairs and back out into the sunshine the views of the site, machinery and Shaft 12, built in 1932 and described as the most beautiful coal mine in the world, were spectacular. You could see not only the vastness of the site itself, but also the massive slag heaps all over the horizon in every direction as well as over to Gelsenkirchen to the North and Bochum to the East. If I squinted I could also just about see Jean gleaming in the car park 😁

Still with the place all to my self, it was back down to the 24m floor and my history lesson on the Ruhr valley and the Ruhrgebiet, starting as the coal did, working its way from top to bottom. Those who know me well know I’m an Industrial Revolution nerd of the highest order so I was like a Schwein in Scheisse! Helpfully there was an English option on the app you could download to your phone which helped, as did the English text on some of the exhibits. The pre history of the area was really interesting with stuff on the Franks of emperor Charlemagne (never trust a Frank…😁) and the Hanseatic League which I thought was Step 5 in the non-league pyramid…

Then we got to the real meat of the issue. The museum really didn’t pull any punches. The toll the heavy industries of the Ruhr took on the environment, its people, the effect on the war and the way it bankrolled Hitler and the nazis were all met head on. Perhaps the most shocking was what happened to the river Emscher which for most of German/Prussian history was more important than the Ruhr. However due to the heavy mining disrupting its course and its slight gradient the decision was made to keep the Ruhr for drinking and supplying industry and the Emscher was turned into an open sewer from the end of the 19th century. Can you imagine?! Some €5 billion later and it’s just about back to being a normal river again some 100 years of being a sewer. Anyway I could go on for hours, but if you ever get the chance go, it’s brilliant! 

Blinking back into the sunshine, I walked the rest of the site, around 4 miles all in mesmerised by the sheer scale of the thing. Around 1/3 of the buildings have been restored, and there was a lot of work going on with the rest of it and it was a lovely walk in the sun. Somehow it was 2pm already and I’d walked up a hunger. As it was my last day in Germany and I hadn’t had a wurst yet it seemed fitting to have a Currywurst and chips sitting in the vast open yard in front of shaft 12. 

Trying not to think what was in the sausage, there looked to be a cycle path up to Karnap and with the sun still shining, out came the Brompton to have a quick spin round the site and down the old converted train track to Karnap And jolly nice it was to! It makes a massive difference being on a segregated bike track, more of which in a bit, but it was still a lot like home in the fact that most people had cycling gear on, helmets, hi-viz etc but it was a nice way to while away an hour and a half and some 15 gentle miles later I was back to Jean, rolling the roof back and setting course for Utrecht!

It was just gone 4pm so I’d not timed it great, but after filling the tank for the first time since home some 250 miles ago in went another 20 lites for the 110 miles to Utrecht. Slogging through the heavy traffic in Gelsenkirchen it was onto the E35 to Arnhem then the A12 all the way through to Utrecht. With just a quick stop on the Netherland/German border for a Power Nap and to put a jumper on (roof still open!) by 6.30 Jean was pulling into the hotels underground carpark. Another triumph for the little car! The hotel was a lot better than last nights, and feeling like a kid at Christmas at finally being here and able to see what all the fuss was about in the city renowned for its cycling infrastructure I had time to chuck on a pair of jeans and put the lights on the bike and out for the 3 mile trip into town.

Wow. From the hotel there was a bike path out to meet a larger one which was the same width as the road the cars were using. At every intersection bikes and pedestrians had priority. But most crucially of all, it had been designed as a whole. There was no point where it ended and left you joining a busy dual carriageway (Bradford, Leicester, London I’m looking at you…) the lane didn’t suddenly become gravel then mud (any sustran path I’m looking at you…) and no point where there wasn’t a protected option ( all of Yorkshire, I’m looking at you…) it was only 3 miles into town but I just couldn’t stop. Then I found the old town along the old canals and IT HAD BEEN GIVEN OVER ENTIRELY TO PEOPLE!!!! there weren’t any cars! There was millions of bikes but no cars! And guess what, because there weren’t any cars people didn’t have to wear ridiculous helmets, hi-viz, Lycra or any of that bollocks! The only noise was the hubbub of people laughing and talking and eating and drinking in the bars and restaurants that took up the space where the cars would normally be. I’d died and gone to heaven! 

Now I do have some self awareness here and you may have noticed the other thing I’ve waxed lyrical about on this trip is my little car, which I love, and the massive car show I drove 300 miles to get to yesterday! I am a massive hypocrite, I know, and I’m also massively conflicted on the issue. However if you offered me the choice between having what I’ve witnessed tonight, everywhere, to this standard, or giving up driving, ever seeing a car again and Jean going to the crusher, there is not even a doubt in my mind. The streets of Utrecht, Barnsley, Denby Dale and Scissett are better off without the car, and the people that live on those streets would be better off without them as well, but only if we invest in that total plan. Utrecht wasn’t always like it, back in the 70’s it was much like we are now. To quote Kevin Costner, “if you build it, they will come!”

Can you tell I’m slightly bowled over?! Anyway, 10 miles of lolloping around the centre, I managed to find a table, outside, in one of the bars by the canal in the old town, propped the bike up right outside and settled down for some people watching, a few pages reading my book, trying to convince Conleth, Kieran, Dec and Frankie that we should be coming here for the cyclin* trip this year on WhatsApp, a goats cheese burger (I was feeling dirty after the curry wurst for dinner!) and few pints of incredibly strong larger! Another plus is that you can then wobble home slightly pissed in no danger to anyone and still get to your hotel at the outskirts of town in less than 15 minutes…

Plan tomorrow is fluid. I only know I have to get to Amsterdam at some point. It’s 30 miles away along those protected bike lanes so I think I’ll see what the weathers like and play it by ear…