Just back from a splendid...albeit very damp...trip from the Uk across Holland and Germany up into Schleswig Holstein. Kate had never been on a motorcycle trip before so we planned something easy and interesting.We both love nature/bird watching etc....So we took the overnight ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland...then made our way up and over the Afsluitdijk...that long causeway built around 1930 to shut off the sea and form a huge freshwater lake and reclaim land for agriculture. We then pottered on to Dokkum...known throughout Holland as the "Town where they killed the prophet".....poor old St Boniface went across from Britain to convert the locals in 750 and got topped for his trouble!
We stayed in a lovely old farmhouse B&B near the nature reserve called Lauwersmeer....another reclamation project which has not only protected the region from flooding...but given us a beautiful nature reserve too. The next leg took us across to Hamburg...passing Bremen...under the long river tunnel and up to Bad Bramstedt....a lovely hotel...but it was a sixties music revival night....all good fun though
. It had rained the whole trip more or less so we abandoned the plan to ride up into Denmark and caught a local train to explore the surrounding area....did some shopping in Neumunster...then headed home with another stop in a small town called Visbek ( Hotel Wübbolt...highly recommended) and so back to Holland ...staying a day in Gouda...famous for it's cheese...and it's dreadful throaty correct pronunciation!
Smooth trip back on the ferry and no trouble from the R65LS....until we came to disembark....it started to misfire...and with wet grooved metal ramps...an inexperienced passenger who wriggled and the need to blip the throttle on a shaft drive...it wasn't too much fun! We made it home ok...and Kate said she'd go again...said it was an adventure.....our gloves are now almost dry....!!
Friesland is a lovely area and we've promised to go back and explore more.....see more of the reserve...explore some of the old fishing villages...including one where fishing stopped after the most disastrous storm in memory wiped out just about the entire fleet and menfolk.....see some of the sad and sobering war memorials and tributes to partisans.....and generally spend more time with the wonderfully hospitable Dutch people. Northern Germany too warrants more time...and we likewise found warmth and friendship...so unlike the UK where you can still sometimes be viewed as some scruffbag on a motorbike!
Thanks for reading
Richard
