France - Belgium - Holland Cycling : 7

Distance this section : 329km
Distance completed : 2,162km

Tower on the outskirts of Den Haag.

I follow a familiar route from Amsterdam, through Haarlem then down the coast, this is the way that I went on a rather shorter trip a few years ago - it seemed a long way to cycle at the time.  Now it doesn't seem too far, which is good as the weather has turned, it rains on and off, and there seems to be a strong wind against me the whole way, this makes for hard riding for all that it is totally flat.  It's good to get on the ferry, which doesn't depart until 10pm, but they let me board at seven, time for dinner, beer, and sleep then.

Back in England, I found canals to ride along here too.

Not enough sleep mind you, this is not a long crossing so I need to get up early, breakfast is welcome anyway.  Not so welcome is making a cold start through a constant drizzle of rain, my feet quickly go numb, this is really not terribly pleasant.  The going is flat enough through Essex, but English cycle paths are a bit of a shock to the system after the smooth tarmac I enjoyed on the continent.  One long off road section is the Flitch Way, yet another old railway line, and mostly not too bad, but some sections are horrible rutted mud.  I ride through the exotic environs of Colchester, Braintree, Bishops Stortford, and on to Stevenage, to spend a pleasant evening with my Aunt and Cousins, being back in England I can have a proper roast Sunday dinner, yay.

Avoiding English roads by any means necessary.

One last section to do, I really need a rest now.  England feels very built up, I cross many motorways, my route is mostly off road though, there is more old rail line, and plenty of canal tow path too - the paths are still terrible compared to France and the Low Countries, sometimes more like a muddy, rutted farm track than anything else.  Unsurprisingly I get a puncture, and progress is slow, this route seems longer than the ninety-nine kilometres I thought it was.  It's getting dark by the time I cross the Thames, my lights go on, I'm riding on roads now and there is scary traffic, English drivers often making no allowance for my presence.  I make it as far as my brothers place, I was planning to just pop in and say hi, and indeed they say they're tired after a weekend away and will have an early night, but this suits me just fine, I'm sure they are happy to have an unexpected guest for the night.  Then the following morning I just have another half hour to ride, albeit on a very unpleasant road, to mum and dads and that is the end of the trip.

Millenium milepost - one thing they don't have on the continent.

Photos to go with this post can be found here