The Mr X factor 13: August 10, 2007
June - August '07
Canalling with M&D - Wendy & Murray's flying UK visit - tennis at Wimbledon - end of contract at CPS - Cycling tour of Holland - Harwich - Hoek van Holland - The Hague - Zandvoort - Haarlem - Amsterdam - Gouda - windmills at Kinderdijk - Willemstad - Kamperland - rest day! - Zeeland - knee injury :( - Belgium - Brugge - Brussels
For photos visit:
Then a week later it got even better, as our whole family was reunited, quite unexpectedly, for the first time in 2.5 years. My elder sister Wendy, is doing the married, mortgaged and Mummy thing in NZ. With no prospect of getting over here she entered and won a radio competition, the prize being, a trip for 2 to London. So Wendy and husband Murray made a fleeting visit to London, for 10 days in June, and on the 16th Wendy, Murray, Nicola and me, had an incredibly precious and special day altogether on the canal boat, down the River Thames, from Hampton Court to just past Richmond. Nicola’s boyfriend, Serge, also joined us in the evening. We were all in good form and had a great time together – lots of photos with big smiles and a dream come true for Wendy & Murray.
June 28th, I headed to Centre Court Wimbledon, for the day, with Nicola. I had got tickets in the public ballot for the first Thursday, and it was a completely dry day, unlike the weeks either side of the day I was there! I must say, I feel like a true Brit now, because I watched Tim Henman come from 2 sets down, to level at 2 sets all. It was shaping up to be a brilliant victory, until he lost the deciding set in a whimper! After that Nicola and I had some strawberries & wine, before heading back courtside to watch Sharapova & Nadal both demolish their opposition in straight sets. It was a great day out, but most early round games seem pretty one-sided, when a top seed is involved. I’ll be hoping for tickets to week 2, in next year’s ballot!
I worked through the rest of June & July. On July 27, I finally finished work with the CPS, after 2 years, which has been very interesting. My contract from November last year, was not renewed, so when I get back to London, I will be looking for new work, which I am excited about – will be interesting to see what happens and where I end up.
The big cycle trip began on Saturday July 28th. I took the train to Colchester in Essex with my mate Andy Baynes, whom I met over here in London – Wellington boy too, and joining me for the first week. We cycled a couple of hours to a campsite, pitched the tent, then had a nice meal in the campsite pub, excited about the week ahead & talking about all things cycle touring.
The next day we were to catch the ferry from Harwich to ‘Hoek van Holland’, and it was discussing this that we realised Andy had photocopied his passport at work, but left the original in the copier. All of a sudden we were in trouble – there seemed no way round this and it looked like Andy wouldn’t becoming to Holland with me. We went to sleep pretty glum. Next morning we fronted up to customs, with our booking refs, my passport and a photocopy of Andy’s, trying to see if they would let Andy across. Their main concern was that as Andy did not have a ticket booked back, he could be free to get anywhere round Europe once on the continent. After talking with the Dutch border control, they said he could go, as long as he returned to England via Hoek van Holland.
Ecstatic, we boarded the ship for the 6 hour trip across the channel, relieved and grateful. The rest of the first day consisted of a ride north, up the Dutch coastline. We were following the recommended ‘Noordzee route’, from a ‘cycling in Europe’ book, that my kiwi mate Angela gave me at Christmas. We headed up the coast, to Scheveningen, near Den Haag (the Hague). It was breezy and mild cycling behind the dunes and dykes, and we had regular stops for cheese snacks! Early evening we started campsite hunting, and, ran into a few problems finding the tourist info centre, let alone a campsite. Fortunately we were helped out by a man with a Tom-Tom GPS system, who directed us to one. We found our campsite (eventually, that is – difficulty locating campsites, would be a common theme of the trip).
Next day, we decided to have a look around the Hague, and it proved to be a good decision – it was an interesting day exploring, with highlights being the Binnehof & Mauritshuis – 2 of the city’s important buildings, the International Court of Justice, and Madurodam – 1/25 scale legoland-like theme park showing Holland’s key historical and infrastructural projects – really fun, interesting and a snapshot of what was ahead of us. Next day we were back into it, riding from Den Haag to Haarlem, west of Amsterdam. This was a great day, enjoying the brilliant Dutch cycle tracks, two-laned, carved through the dune system and busy with cyclists.
As we neared Zandvoort the sun came out and it got hotter, we decided to have lunch on the beach and found one that felt just like Waikanae beach. Parking our bikes on the beach, we enjoyed swimming in the surf, & catching some waves, before having a lovely cheese baguette lunch (with tomatoes, salami et. al. thrown in – yum!). We cycled on to Haarlem, and enjoyed a lovely meal at our campsite (once we had found it!), beside a beautiful canal.
The following day we had pancakes in Haarlem, before a leisurely 25km ride into Amsterdam – booking into an inner-city hostel, where our bikes would be safe. Andy went for a look around town on his bike and I enjoyed sitting outside a bar with a beer, writing my diary, some postcards, & reflecting on how much fun this whole ‘explore Europe by bike’- thing was. Andy & I went for a lovely Indonesian meal that night – part of the Dutch East Indies colonial-link.
By now, we had also got into an enjoyable chess rivalry, I had bought my small, magnetic set with me – the one that NZ boys in the ‘80s, played chess tournaments on! The score was 4-2 to me when Andy left, for London, but he is the form player at the moment - to be continued... lots of fun.
The next day was Day 6 (2nd August). We got thoroughly confused with the canals, heading out of Amsterdam, but found an asphalt cycle path and made quick time heading through some lovely Dutch countryside, to Gouda, south of Amsterdam - famous for cheese. We had done 80km when we arrived there, and headed to our campsite using our Lonely Planet guide and locals for direction - only to get well and truly lost by both. When we did a big U-turn and found the campsite, they didn’t take tents – only caravans and fixed-type house units - &!%?§ç!!!! We asked for directions from the owner but weren’t smiling on the inside! 6km later we found a site and had a welcome rest and shower – 80km had turned into 97km, and an unnecessary extra 90 minutes of cycling.
Fortunately, we soon forgot that, because we had a great evening at a small Italian pizzeria takeaway joint, eating lovely pasta for our carbo load, and talking about all sorts of things with the welcoming Turkish chefs, intrigued at what 2 Kiwis were doing cycling through Holland, far away from home. Unfortunately they do not deliver to London!!
Day 7, we kept heading south, to Willemstad. This time we did 98km – it’s long, but not as bad as you may think, when the terrain is totally flat! We lunched (more beautiful baguettes, this time with olives too!) at Kinderdijk, amongst 19 windmills – the highest concentration of them in Europe, and a great photo opportunity. Late in the day, we neared Zeeland, and crossed 2 mighty bridges, surrounded by with views of the sea, land and windmills. We were starting to encounter a number of Dutch engineering projects – each one pretty massive in scale, and quite inspiring. No campsite finding difficulties, for a change!
Day 8 was from Willemstad to Kamperland, in Noord Beveland. Andy left early to head back to Hoek van Holland, and his ferry home. We had had a great week exploring western Holland. This was my first solo day, and I had 80km to do. I knocked off 50km by 1.30pm, and noticed it was getting pretty hot – late 20s. After lunch I cycled across the ‘Zeelandbrug’ bridge, south of Zierikzee. After 1.5km of it I thought it was quite long, but it just kept going forever, partly because of the headwind; but mainly because it is 5km long in total! - a massive, straight, seemingly endless, bridge. The heat was taking its toll by now, I guess I was tired from the previous 2 days’ rides, and the final 12km seemed to take ages. It turned into 16km, with more campsite finding problems. Then the reception was closed for an hour, so I got an ice cream, sat and cooled down.
Then, a classic thing happened. I kid you not, but my 'Johnsonville Cycles' emblazoned bike shorts (bought from a Wellington bike shop, whilst I was home in March) came up trumps, when a Kiwi-Dutch guy recognised them in the camp reception as I was checking in. He asked me, ‘those aren’t from Johnsonville are they?’ in a Kiwi accent. I’m tempted now to say J’ville cycles are my sponsors! We got talking – Caspar was born in Holland, lived in the Hutt Valley (Wellington), from 10-19 years old, before returning to Holland, and now lives in Maastricht. He invited me to his BBQ that his mates - a social volleyball team - were having that night. They were a lovely bunch of Dutch people and welcome company at the end of my first solo day. I had decided to have a rest day the next day, so was really able to enjoy things. A classic, chance meeting, and I felt quite blessed by it all.
Sunday 5 August was a lovely rest day. The body needed it after 280km in 3 days - in pretty hot weather. I slept in, before heading to the ‘Neeltje Jans’ Dam exhibition profiling the massive flood control/dam projects constructed in Holland in the ‘60s & 70, as a result of the 1953 flood, which devastated much of Zeeland due to widespread dyke failure. This exhibition was 9km from the campsite, located on the final & most technological part of the project - a storm surge barrier, which can be raised in high seas & severe weather conditions to keep the sea out (could it keep out a passport-less Andy Baynes though!!?), and I found it very interesting. So far, it has prevented floods since its construction, and it was particularly interesting given global warming, sea level rises and floods seeming to occur more often. Holland in particular needs to be at the forefront of any planning, with about half of it below sea level.
I spent the afternoon sitting poolside in the campsite, in sun and 27 degrees, with the occasional swim & beer - very chuffed with how things were going, after only 9 days of this trip. The next day I think my body was still in relax/tired mode. As I headed for Belgium, I pushed into a headwind in the morning, my calves were tight & after an hour, I felt a mild 'pull' inside my left knee, and thought ‘gosh that might hurt a bit tonight’. I had to keep going, to reach Belgium & my destination of Brugge, which I entered in misty rain, traveling alongside a canal, lined with huge trees – felt like I was heading to a special city.
It was – Brugge was lovely on first impressions, as I cycled round trying to find the Information Centre – problem was every street looks very similar and those cobblestones are really bad for cycling! Found a campsite on the outskirts of town though and explored Brugge very slowly on my bike next day – having waffles in the market & sitting canal-side for several hours, as my knee was giving me grief by now.
On Wednesday I took the train from Brugge to Brussels, where I am now with family friends, waiting for my knee to get better and wondering what to do… Cycling trip is on hold for now, (after 581km). Writing about the glorious first 10 days of it, has me wishing I could continue right now. I had plans to get to Switzerland eventually. Will see if it gets any better in the next few days and make decisions from there. I so wish it wasn’t this way, but it is unfortunately. Life doesn’t always go one’s way – and that’s probably what helps us grow.
I will survive – hope you are going well.
June - August '07
Canalling with M&D - Wendy & Murray's flying UK visit - tennis at Wimbledon - end of contract at CPS - Cycling tour of Holland - Harwich - Hoek van Holland - The Hague - Zandvoort - Haarlem - Amsterdam - Gouda - windmills at Kinderdijk - Willemstad - Kamperland - rest day! - Zeeland - knee injury :( - Belgium - Brugge - Brussels
For photos visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidhodgkinson/sets/72157601611799770/ (M&D's visit)http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidhodgkinson/sets/72157601650785774/ (W&M's visit)http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidhodgkinson/sets/72157601718489236/ (Cricket & tennis)http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidhodgkinson/sets/72157601779734626/ (Cycle tour - Holland & Belgium)
Hi all
The ‘Mr X-factor’ no. 13 comes to you from Belgium, where I am in a spot of bother. Have been on my cycling holiday since Sat July 28th, and it was a fantastic first week, but last Monday I strained my knee cycling into the wind, from Zeeland to Brugge. Fortunately I have been able to stay with family friends here, but I am not sure what to do from here as it is still pretty sore, 4 days later, & I guess I need a diagnosis before I decide what to do. Reasonably frustrated, to be honest, I have been in similar health situations, too many times in my life, and I hate each one.
Anyway, at least it is raining outside, & I can write this latest update. Also, I have set up a photo website, to balance all my writing! If you want to look at some of my travel pictures, head to: www.flickr.com/photos/davidhodgkinson It has photos from my cool trip home to NZ, in March/April. Hope you enjoy…More photos will be added in due time, I’m still learning the website – Paul Roper-Gee I have a few Qs for you!
Then a week later it got even better, as our whole family was reunited, quite unexpectedly, for the first time in 2.5 years. My elder sister Wendy, is doing the married, mortgaged and Mummy thing in NZ. With no prospect of getting over here she entered and won a radio competition, the prize being, a trip for 2 to London. So Wendy and husband Murray made a fleeting visit to London, for 10 days in June, and on the 16th Wendy, Murray, Nicola and me, had an incredibly precious and special day altogether on the canal boat, down the River Thames, from Hampton Court to just past Richmond. Nicola’s boyfriend, Serge, also joined us in the evening. We were all in good form and had a great time together – lots of photos with big smiles and a dream come true for Wendy & Murray. June 28th, I headed to Centre Court Wimbledon, for the day, with Nicola. I had got tickets in the public ballot for the first Thursday, and it was a completely dry day, unlike the weeks either side of the day I was there! I must say, I feel like a true Brit now, because I watched Tim Henman come from 2 sets down, to level at 2 sets all. It was shaping up to be a brilliant victory, until he lost the deciding set in a whimper! After that Nicola and I had some strawberries & wine, before heading back courtside to watch Sharapova & Nadal both demolish their opposition in straight sets. It was a great day out, but most early round games seem pretty one-sided, when a top seed is involved. I’ll be hoping for tickets to week 2, in next year’s ballot! I worked through the rest of June & July. On July 27, I finally finished work with the CPS, after 2 years, which has been very interesting. My contract from November last year, was not renewed, so when I get back to London, I will be looking for new work, which I am excited about – will be interesting to see what happens and where I end up. The big cycle trip began on Saturday July 28th. I took the train to Colchester in Essex with my mate Andy Baynes, whom I met over here in London – Wellington boy too, and joining me for the first week. We cycled a couple of hours to a campsite, pitched the tent, then had a nice meal in the campsite pub, excited about the week ahead & talking about all things cycle touring.The next day we were to catch the ferry from Harwich to ‘Hoek van Holland’, and it was discussing this that we realised Andy had photocopied his passport at work, but left the original in the copier. All of a sudden we were in trouble – there seemed no way round this and it looked like Andy wouldn’t becoming to Holland with me. We went to sleep pretty glum. Next morning we fronted up to customs, with our booking refs, my passport and a photocopy of Andy’s, trying to see if they would let Andy across. Their main concern was that as Andy did not have a ticket booked back, he could be free to get anywhere round Europe once on the continent. After talking with the Dutch border control, they said he could go, as long as he returned to England via Hoek van Holland.
Ecstatic, we boarded the ship for the 6 hour trip across the channel, relieved and grateful. The rest of the first day consisted of a ride north, up the Dutch coastline. We were following the recommended ‘Noordzee route’, from a ‘cycling in Europe’ book, that my kiwi mate Angela gave me at Christmas. We headed up the coast, to Scheveningen, near Den Haag (the Hague). It was breezy and mild cycling behind the dunes and dykes, and we had regular stops for cheese snacks! Early evening we started campsite hunting, and, ran into a few problems finding the tourist info centre, let alone a campsite. Fortunately we were helped out by a man with a Tom-Tom GPS system, who directed us to one. We found our campsite (eventually, that is – difficulty locating campsites, would be a common theme of the trip).
Next day, we decided to have a look around the Hague, and it proved to be a good decision – it was an interesting day exploring, with highlights being the Binnehof & Mauritshuis – 2 of the city’s important buildings, the International Court of Justice, and Madurodam – 1/25 scale legoland-like theme park showing Holland’s key historical and infrastructural projects – really fun, interesting and a snapshot of what was ahead of us. Next day we were back into it, riding from Den Haag to Haarlem, west of Amsterdam. This was a great day, enjoying the brilliant Dutch cycle tracks, two-laned, carved through the dune system and busy with cyclists.
As we neared Zandvoort the sun came out and it got hotter, we decided to have lunch on the beach and found one that felt just like Waikanae beach. Parking our bikes on the beach, we enjoyed swimming in the surf, & catching some waves, before having a lovely cheese baguette lunch (with tomatoes, salami et. al. thrown in – yum!). We cycled on to Haarlem, and enjoyed a lovely meal at our campsite (once we had found it!), beside a beautiful canal. The following day we had pancakes in Haarlem, before a leisurely 25km ride into Amsterdam – booking into an inner-city hostel, where our bikes would be safe. Andy went for a look around town on his bike and I enjoyed sitting outside a bar with a beer, writing my diary, some postcards, & reflecting on how much fun this whole ‘explore Europe by bike’- thing was. Andy & I went for a lovely Indonesian meal that night – part of the Dutch East Indies colonial-link.By now, we had also got into an enjoyable chess rivalry, I had bought my small, magnetic set with me – the one that NZ boys in the ‘80s, played chess tournaments on! The score was 4-2 to me when Andy left, for London, but he is the form player at the moment - to be continued... lots of fun.
The next day was Day 6 (2nd August). We got thoroughly confused with the canals, heading out of Amsterdam, but found an asphalt cycle path and made quick time heading through some lovely Dutch countryside, to Gouda, south of Amsterdam - famous for cheese. We had done 80km when we arrived there, and headed to our campsite using our Lonely Planet guide and locals for direction - only to get well and truly lost by both. When we did a big U-turn and found the campsite, they didn’t take tents – only caravans and fixed-type house units - &!%?§ç!!!! We asked for directions from the owner but weren’t smiling on the inside! 6km later we found a site and had a welcome rest and shower – 80km had turned into 97km, and an unnecessary extra 90 minutes of cycling.
Fortunately, we soon forgot that, because we had a great evening at a small Italian pizzeria takeaway joint, eating lovely pasta for our carbo load, and talking about all sorts of things with the welcoming Turkish chefs, intrigued at what 2 Kiwis were doing cycling through Holland, far away from home. Unfortunately they do not deliver to London!!Day 7, we kept heading south, to Willemstad. This time we did 98km – it’s long, but not as bad as you may think, when the terrain is totally flat! We lunched (more beautiful baguettes, this time with olives too!) at Kinderdijk, amongst 19 windmills – the highest concentration of them in Europe, and a great photo opportunity. Late in the day, we neared Zeeland, and crossed 2 mighty bridges, surrounded by with views of the sea, land and windmills. We were starting to encounter a number of Dutch engineering projects – each one pretty massive in scale, and quite inspiring. No campsite finding difficulties, for a change!
Day 8 was from Willemstad to Kamperland, in Noord Beveland. Andy left early to head back to Hoek van Holland, and his ferry home. We had had a great week exploring western Holland. This was my first solo day, and I had 80km to do. I knocked off 50km by 1.30pm, and noticed it was getting pretty hot – late 20s. After lunch I cycled across the ‘Zeelandbrug’ bridge, south of Zierikzee. After 1.5km of it I thought it was quite long, but it just kept going forever, partly because of the headwind; but mainly because it is 5km long in total! - a massive, straight, seemingly endless, bridge. The heat was taking its toll by now, I guess I was tired from the previous 2 days’ rides, and the final 12km seemed to take ages. It turned into 16km, with more campsite finding problems. Then the reception was closed for an hour, so I got an ice cream, sat and cooled down.
Then, a classic thing happened. I kid you not, but my 'Johnsonville Cycles' emblazoned bike shorts (bought from a Wellington bike shop, whilst I was home in March) came up trumps, when a Kiwi-Dutch guy recognised them in the camp reception as I was checking in. He asked me, ‘those aren’t from Johnsonville are they?’ in a Kiwi accent. I’m tempted now to say J’ville cycles are my sponsors! We got talking – Caspar was born in Holland, lived in the Hutt Valley (Wellington), from 10-19 years old, before returning to Holland, and now lives in Maastricht. He invited me to his BBQ that his mates - a social volleyball team - were having that night. They were a lovely bunch of Dutch people and welcome company at the end of my first solo day. I had decided to have a rest day the next day, so was really able to enjoy things. A classic, chance meeting, and I felt quite blessed by it all. Sunday 5 August was a lovely rest day. The body needed it after 280km in 3 days - in pretty hot weather. I slept in, before heading to the ‘Neeltje Jans’ Dam exhibition profiling the massive flood control/dam projects constructed in Holland in the ‘60s & 70, as a result of the 1953 flood, which devastated much of Zeeland due to widespread dyke failure. This exhibition was 9km from the campsite, located on the final & most technological part of the project - a storm surge barrier, which can be raised in high seas & severe weather conditions to keep the sea out (could it keep out a passport-less Andy Baynes though!!?), and I found it very interesting. So far, it has prevented floods since its construction, and it was particularly interesting given global warming, sea level rises and floods seeming to occur more often. Holland in particular needs to be at the forefront of any planning, with about half of it below sea level.I spent the afternoon sitting poolside in the campsite, in sun and 27 degrees, with the occasional swim & beer - very chuffed with how things were going, after only 9 days of this trip. The next day I think my body was still in relax/tired mode. As I headed for Belgium, I pushed into a headwind in the morning, my calves were tight & after an hour, I felt a mild 'pull' inside my left knee, and thought ‘gosh that might hurt a bit tonight’. I had to keep going, to reach Belgium & my destination of Brugge, which I entered in misty rain, traveling alongside a canal, lined with huge trees – felt like I was heading to a special city.
It was – Brugge was lovely on first impressions, as I cycled round trying to find the Information Centre – problem was every street looks very similar and those cobblestones are really bad for cycling! Found a campsite on the outskirts of town though and explored Brugge very slowly on my bike next day – having waffles in the market & sitting canal-side for several hours, as my knee was giving me grief by now.
On Wednesday I took the train from Brugge to Brussels, where I am now with family friends, waiting for my knee to get better and wondering what to do… Cycling trip is on hold for now, (after 581km). Writing about the glorious first 10 days of it, has me wishing I could continue right now. I had plans to get to Switzerland eventually. Will see if it gets any better in the next few days and make decisions from there. I so wish it wasn’t this way, but it is unfortunately. Life doesn’t always go one’s way – and that’s probably what helps us grow. I will survive – hope you are going well.To check out all my photos visit: www.flickr.com/davidhodgkinson
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12:26 AM
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