Breda to Leerdam

 We had a final look around Breda.

 This church wins the Best Windows award.

Then we got on our trusty Bromptons to retrace our steps from yesterday's run. This was to see the beautiful Langoed Bouvigne, that we completely missed on the run. I didn't even have the excuse of being tired because it was quite near to the start.

Then a quick sprint up the station steps to catch the fast train to Den Bosch, also for some reason known as 's-Hertogenbosch. This cut our distance down a bit, but also gave us some good things to see along the way.

Starting with Bolwoningem. This is a totally unbelievable housing estate in the suburbs of Den Bosch. These buildings are tiny houses built for single people or couples with no children, and are rented from the council.

They were designed by an architect who believed that round houses were the best shape to live in, and they date from 1984. There is a spiral staircase in the base, then a living room, a half landing with a bathroom, and finally a bedroom. Honestly, I am not making this up.

Then we cycled across lovely countryside on the top of banks that I assume can hold back water if necessary. 

It gave us great views of the countryside, but the day was very windy and we mostly seemed to be riding straight into it.

Another stop for the Kasteel Ammersoyen, a brilliant building with a good moat.

Onwards, and back into the wind, stopping briefly at a concrete tractor.

Then another exciting nature stop. I had seen one of my favourite birds in the fields along the way, and then Daz spied a nest in one of the villages. 

Storks! Fantastic massive birds, and my all time favourites, along with flamingos, if course.

The weather looked as if it was turning against us and huge black clouds followed us, but we raced along in the headwind, and got to the ferry just as it was docking. £2.50 well spent to get across the water.

It was only a five minute journey, but on this side the roads were soaking wet and full of puddles.

We were closing in on Leerdam and we arrived and got to our hotel room about five minutes before the rain.

Sporty couple of days

 Yesterday we ran the incredible Oude Warande parkrun. It's held in the middle of a forest and is in the shape of a windmill.

It was an excellent course and it shouldn't have been possible to go wrong. However, I was running with no one close to me either in front or behind and I ran in a straight line and almost into a lake.

I didn't notice the sign a few metres back showing a wiggle on a path around it, and instead I stopped right at the lake's edge, then saw a tiny path right next to the lake and followed that, pushing brambles out of the way.

I was soon back on the route and finished 34th out of 64 so it hadn't slowed me down much, it was just a surprise. Daz finished 20th and never even saw the lake. He also thinks that I should do it again as my effort shouldn't count.

Then we cycled to Breda which was about 30 kilometres away. It's a pretty place with many bars and restaurants, although it's not looking it's best as it's raining.

This morning we set off for a ten mile jog in the drizzle around Breda and it's surrounding forests. I Jeffed it and Darren had a lovely time running ahead and taking lots of photos.

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.

Isata Kenneth-Mason at Merton College

 Darren booked for us to see Isata on the piano at Merton College. We really like the Kennah-Masons and wanted to see inside Merton College grounds, so it killed two birds with one stone.

Merton is one of the oldest colleges and was founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton, Chancellor of England and later the Bishop of Rochester. The gatehouse in the first photo dates from the early 15th century when Henry V granted a licence to crenellate, and this allowed the construction of the battlement tower. Who would have thought that planning permission was as difficult then as it is today. 

The college was beautiful and during the interval the whole audience wandered around them admiring the buildings and the gardens. They obviously have very keen gardeners here and the plants all had labels with the latin names written on them. 

Fantastic stone carvings and gargoyles stared down at us from on high. 

Looking through a list of interesting facts about Merton it was disappointing to find that it celebrated its 700th anniversary in 1964, and then in 1966 it appoints its first female lecturer. It only took 702 years, but congratulations to Anne Wallace Hadrill who taught English Language.

Slightly more famous was JRR Tolkien who was a Professor of English Language at Merton and published Lord of the Rings in 1954.

Moving on to Isata, she opened with the Moonlight Sonata, a piece that I try to play too. Unfortunately, that's where our similarity ended and her rendition was nothing like mine. 

She played so beautifully, and after three encores came back and finished with a version of 'I say a little prayer' that must have had about half a million notes.

The only downside to the event is that the organisers left a pulpit right in the middle of the aisle and it really blocked the view of her. I rarely saw her head, but I could see her hands playing and her lovely sparkly dress.

Humber Bridge to Doncaster

 Parkrun day today and it's only 15 minutes walk from our hotel. It's a nice undulating three lap course around a park just next to the bridge.

My legs weren't up for a fast one after so much pedalling, although I look very concerned about the time in my action shot.

After breakfast at the Purple Palace we cycled about five minutes to the station.

Got a distant view of the bridge and then another one as the train pulled away.

Then we were on our way to Doncaster and spent a lovely couple of hours with family. On to the bikes again, back into town and our superb Art Deco hotel.

It was like entering a different world, one that we certainly weren't dressed for. The amazing receptionist upgraded us to a huge room on the ground floor to accommodate our bikes.

Dinner in the dining room was really good, and more great features.