2017 Tour over

After 270 miles, 430kms of cycling in five days, we have left our friends in Holland behind for another year and are now just off the coast of Teeside and fast approaching our arrival into North Shields.

Its been a good week with plenty of effort all round, six hours plus daily cycling on the longer routes and the shortest day being over three hours.

We've burnt off thousands of calories and replaced them with some good food and great crack.

Our final day in Holland was a short 30 mile ride through the sand dunes forming the two National Parks of Noordwijk and Kennersduin and we were greatly assisted by the tailwind, Messrs Crosby Bell and Woods reaching speeds of +30mph on beautiful clear smooth surfaces.

Thank you Holland and Tot Ziens.

Some people are on the pitch, they think its all over

Just the procession into Paris aka Ijmuiden remains. It should be a leisurely 30 miles with south westerlies helping out towards Katwijk, Zandvoort, Bloemendaal and onwards to our 5pm ferry at Ijmuiden.

Here in Leiden its raining. It shouldn't dampen spirits after a great week's cycling.

Now, where did we leave our bikes?

Breda to Leiden

We all enjoyed the town of Breda on Thursday with its leafy town square and lots of bars and restaurants which were very lively with people having a good time. 

This part of Holland is quite near Belgium with Antwerp being quite close by.

The Friday ride took us via Dordrecht and Rotterdam skirting Delft and Den Haag arriving in Leiden through a lovely quiet Nature reserve called Vlietland.

My phone will need replacing when I get home. It has an issue connecting to 4G so only access to maps etc has been via wifi hotspots.

Even a factory reset failed to improve things but lost all my photos for  now.

Dutch champions

At the home of the Dutch champions, Feyenoord of Rotterdam. About half way to tonight's rest upin Leiden. Everyone good here.

Beautiful Breda

We enjoyed a great Steak last night @ Guachos in Breda. It is a lovely relaxed town.

Early start today for the 66 miles 100kms to Leiden via Dordrecht and hopefully avoiding the bustling Rotterdam if we can as we always get lost in big cities.

Weather here sunny again.

Long day in the saddle over

67 miles today, into headwinds, from Nijmegen to Breda via Hertogenbosch and Tilburg.   A round of applause for teamwork as we all encouraged each other through difficult and sometimes painful moments. Two detours taking us the wrong way by missing bike signs.

Too tired to type much today on a day which was not the most interesting of routes, straightlining alongside busy roads but separated from the traffic.

Recovery in the bar then dinner soon. Can't wait.

Lunch stop on Day 04

Todays lunch stop was just under half way at Hertogenbosch. 30 miles completed into headwinds three or four in the wrong direction unfortunately.  Fresh raw fish salad for lunch was superb.

And onwards during the afternoon for a tea time break in Tilburg. 50 miles so far. Everyone doing well so far. About 15mls still to do to Breda.