Day in Tilburg

We were due an easy today and the weather looked dodgy, so after a late breakfast we went out to explore Tilburg.

Right outside our hotel is the town square with a lovely old church and the entrance to the underground bike park. This is a bigger version of yesterday's travelater, and people just stand on it with their bike and are teleported to the bike parking area.

We took a walk around town casually enjoying the sights.

Then we crossed over a big canal and into a grassy area on the far side. For many years it was the sewage treatment plant, but not any more, although it did smell a tiny bit wiffy.

At the far side of it were the recently discovered remains of a 13th century manor house, but instead of trying to rebuild it, they have created the estimated outline in corten.

Finally, and back in the town we passed an absolutely massive chimney  from the Beka wool factory. It closed in 1968 and is now surrounded by quite nice looking flats.

Whilst trying to find out more about the Beka factory read in Wikipedia that the employees, and also local people, used to be known as pee pottiers or more crudely jug pissers. This is because they used to take their own urine to work in jugs and were paid a few cents for it. The ammonia was somehow used in the wool processing area. 

I think that fact will stay with me for a while, possibly even after I forget the name of the town.

Eurostar to Holland

 Yesterday we set off on our Bromptons, catching a train to London Paddington station and then cycling across to St Pancras.

After spending a lovel hour or two in the Eurostar lounge we caught our train to Rotterdam.

Unfortunately the train company insist that all folding bikes have to be folded up and then put in a bag to travel.

It's a very long way from the lounge to carriage number 15 when carrying a bike and all our luggage and that bike got heavier with every step.

 Darren came back to help me and we were almost the last ones to make it onboard, and my right arm is much longer than my left and quite sore.

We arrived in the evening at Rotterdam and then the next morning we went for a multi tasking sightseeing and interval training run.

This involved warming up at an easy pace, with photos along the way, then transitioning into running as fast as possible for a mile over a massive bridge.

Then a recovery jog, four sets of speedy 400 metres and then we were back at the hotel and ready to start the day.

We set off to one of my favourite places in Holland, and stopped for a welcome coffee and stroopwaffle cake at the entrance.

Then we were off and cycling amongst the windmills of Kinderdijk. 

Our destination was Dordrecht, and the whole route was along cycle paths, seeing far more bikes than cars. One small section was alongside a major road and we had to climb some steps to get up to it.

The Dutch are incredible and the comfort of cyclists is a major priority for them. But although we realised this we were amazed to find a little channel at the side of the steps with a moving belt.

 It was a little bike travelater and you bakanced your bike on it, held on to the brakes and it took the bike to the top. I really hope that the person who invented it got a Nobel prize as it was amazing.

Arriving into Dordrecht we cut the timings very fine and saw nothing at all of the town. We went straight to the station and had less than 10 minutes to spare to catch our train to Tilburg and our hotel.