The Cow Who (Almost) Fell in the Canal

Today was one of those challenging days when you think you're going to die but you know you have to do what you're doing or why did you bother to go travelling in the first place? T suggested we cycle through town and over some traffic laden bridges to the pretty countryside north of Amsterdam - spots we can see from his apartment. As I haven't managed to find a bike to buy T decided he would reconstruct his old racing bike from the 70s which was in pieces in his spare room/bike workshop. (Actually, as Tim happily admits, the whole apartment is a bike workshop). The reconstruction took some time as tyres and tubes had to be found and fitted and a (rather narrow and hard) seat attached. I would just like to say here I have never ridden a boy's racing bike - it is a challenging experience, especially remembering where the brake is. And you have to bend right over so bits of you that you never expected to expose again in public are on full view. And it is impossible to dismount in an emergency as that stupid bar is in the way.

As Tim led the way across busy roads and what seemed to me to be against the lights ("don't worry - this is Amsterdam - people do their own thing here") I decided I hated him. Five minutes later I realised he hated me too and was trying to kill me. So I abandoned following him and walked my bike over pedestrian crossings and looked out for traffic at intersections which none of the other cyclists seemed to be doing. There are lots of dedicated bike lanes but these are as dangerous as the roads as they are also open to motorbikes and strange invalid cars (like narrow Smart Cars) which approach from behind very fast so you have to stay hard right and try not to wobble as they race past. I was so nervous that as soon as I knew I was not allowed to wobble I did, so had frequent brushes with death .

It was such a relief when we reached the countryside and the bike track meandered along beside little waterfilled mini canals - called slootjes apparently. (A sloot is a man-made water ditch) I still managed to come close to disaster when I came down the side of a steep bridge (they are steep both sides to let the boats under) and faced 3 bollards and a sharp left hand turn in the path (unless I wanted to land in the canal ahead). I was so worried about steering between the bollards I forgot where the brake was and found myself heading for the canal. In the end I only skidded into the grass edge and wobbled back onto the path. T of course was way ahead and hadn't noticed. The ride ended in a little village (Holysloot!) where we hired a row boat and sploshed around the little waterways - that was fun. Of course we had to do the traffic thing on the way back again - it was rush hour so was even worse, but at least I knew where the brake was by now and had stopped hating T (but still couldn't bring myself to follow his lead).

another bike on another dyke