Monday 18 May 2015

Holland Part 7 - Finale and Encore

A highly enjoyable long weekend was drawing to a close, The evening before I left I spent a couple of hours in the bar sampling yet more of the excellent local brews in the company of the barman and not another soul, the entire evening, not even the odd person popping in for a coffee. The hostel was very quiet, indeed my shared room was now my own personal room for the night which was nice considering I'd been sharing with two loud and prolonged snorers the previous two nights. Tonight was just myself and the Dahon for company...bliss.

My room-mate for my final night.

Of course it transpires that the barman plays guitar, we chatted about music, guitars and then it happened, the inevitable the "these guys are great but have you ever heard of a guitarist called Django?" Suddenly we were in familiar territory and the rest of a great evening was spent talking, a bit of playing, a bit of listening and so on until closing time at the bar. That was it, my adventure was almost over.

One of my barman's guitars, not working unfortunately.

In the morning I somewhat reluctantly packed my few belongings onto the Dahon and checked out although not until after partaking once again of an excellent breakfast and probably more coffee than was really necessary but there you go. I hadn't left myself enough time to cycle back to Schiphol so headed to Haarlem station to catch a train to Schiphol, stopping to take a few last bike infrastructure pictures on the way and this picture below to serve as a reminder to me to stop and look occasionally when people give you directions.

Open your eyes and look, I mean really LOOK

The train from Haarlem to Schiphol requires a change at Sloterdijk, no big deal except I had folded the Dahon and bagged it at Haarlem not anticipating having to leave the Sloterdijk building and carry it 150m across a concourse to the two platforms for Schiphol trains, DOH! Eventually I arrive at Schiphol and after a bit of messing around trying to find the baggage area, I left the bike at the "unusual or oddly shaped baggage" area and now the realisation hit me that it was all over and I was heading to... No, I'll resist the obvious and not post a picture of our wonderful, award-winning bicycle infrastructure with a suitably sarcastic caption. That's it, the end, 'til the next time :)

Encore

Well actually more like an evaluation. What did I learn about bikepacking this time around? Well for a start what I did wasn't bikepacking in its strictest sense, but since I carried all my belongings by bicycle, I think I'm just going to claim it anyway. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I do wish I had thought to purchase a paper map in advance the way I have done any number of times in the UK, this would have saved me a lot of time and stress on my first few hours after arrival. I guess the flipside to that last sentence is if you're going to rely on GPS then make sure the device that hosts it is up to the job. If like me you're using a mobile phone make sure you a) have it fully charged before setting off and b) turn apps running in the background GPS makes big demands on the battery life of your device and for me now it's back to being "nice to have" but I'll stick to a traditional paper map and compass wherever possible.

The other thing I learned, and boy is this a sore one, if you're flying, ignore any platitudes the airlines tell you about packing your bike. Assume it will be treated with utter contempt and pack well around sensitive parts like derailleurs and brakes, I had read the blurb on my carriers' website about how a bike box would not be necessary on the small aircraft I would be flying on due to space considerations in the hold. This is quite probably true but no matter, when you unpack your bike at the start of a journey to find the front brake caliper broken, well you start to realise that that particular line may have the smell of BS about it. Then when you get home and unpack after the return journey and notice your chain slipping between two particular gears which were fine while you were away... On inspection at my LBS, who incidentally have been absolutely excellent in getting me sorted, it was found that the derailleur hanger was very slightly bent, but the killer was the rear wheel had buckled due to probable bad handling, eithyer throwing it onboard or by something heavy being thrown against it.

I had chosen to fly not simply because of the "convenience" of leaving from an airport close to home but also in no small part because of the nightmare of getting relatively inexpensive train tickets at shortish notice. Yes, I know "inexpensive" and "train tickets" in the same sentence, in the UK. By the time this had been fixed it occurred to me that I might have been as well paying the extra and taking the Newcastle ferry, definitely next time.

In terms of the experience while I was away the only thing I might do differently next time would be to take a few more pieces of lightweight clothing, it wasn't as if I was travelling great distances each day, carrying everything with me. Also I didn't carry much in terms of actual biking gear, the usual small set of tools I take with me on my commute and, unless I take a road bike next time, I won't be carrying padded shorts or technical tops blah, blah, actually you know what, I probably will still take them, you never know I might even get drop bars fitted to the Dahon :)

A folding bike is so versatile for a trip like this, with its luggage rack the Dahon* is more than up to the job. It was so convenient to just fold and stick on the train, and for that matter in my room at night. It would be remiss of me to write up any kind of assessment  of my trip without mentioning yet again the fantastic approach Dutch authorities and planners have towards sustainable transport. The thing is this, having spoken to people whilst out and about what struck me was the way that getting around by bicycle is so effortless that no-one I spoke to thought of it.  *other folding bike brands are available

Well, that's it then, if anyone's stuck with this little adventure since the start then I hope you were entertained, and so until next time, here's a picture of a canal...old stereotypes die hard sometimes. Oh yes, and if anyone's interested allow me to recommend "However" by Jasper van't Hof by way of introduction to some slightly "out there" 70's Euro jazz. You're welcome!

The End

Monday 11 May 2015

Holland Part 6 - Rubato - Amsterdam

My final full day in Holland was going to be a bit of a pilgrimage. Firstly I would cycle into Amsterdam, first stop Palm Guitars, then The American Book Centre via the Flower Market, maybe a cheeky wee visit to Hajenius the art-deco cigar shop and last but certainly not least, a visit to the Jazz-Inn record shop.

Cycling into Amsterdam from Haarlem only takes about an hour and a half according to Google Maps but my experience of a couple of days prior to this suggested it may be otherwise depending on whether I make any bad decisions about my route but all of this was rendered moot when I woke up just in time to catch the end of "Lazy Sunday" breakfast in the hostel. By the time I was ready to leave time had passed to such an extent that it seemed to me wise to simply cycle to the train, park the bike at Haarlem Station then take the train into Amsterdam, after all I know it well enough now to not need a map to go where I want to go. Train ticket purchased, I was bound for Amsterdam for a day travelling on foot, and to be honest I'm glad I did park the bike because Amsterdam was positively heaving with tourists on bikes.
Back in the 'Dam

So I've got to say if you are a bikey person you may not find anything of too much interest in this post, but if like me you think it's about the journey not about the bike then please read on. I've cycled in Amsterdam before and to be honest it's been written about so much I doubt I could add anything new to the discussion. It's a lovely way to get around the city but I'd made my decision to go on foot and had a brief itinerary as outlined above. Here's the thing though, as I walked across the road towards the Damrak I noticed the smell of weed so much more than I ever have done before and a lot more litter and general run-down feel around the Martelaarsgracht area just across from the station. Maybe I'm just a bit older and the prospect of wild weekends in...well anywhere no longer have the appeal they once had, but I couldn't help feeling that maybe this isn't the best way to greet a tourist stepping off the train for the first time, but then again who am I to judge? No-one was fighting or falling about the place drunk and vomiting so maybe I should just carry on, so...

On the way to nirvana, but Palm Guitars was closed...

I decided to head straight to Palm Guitars and in doing so straight to my first disappointment. Closed. Looks like this is more than a temporary closure, it seems the building was flooded late 2014 and has been closed ever since. The company is still trading online but I had been looking forward to snaking between the lines of weird and wonderful and sometimes downright rare acoustic guitars, mandolins, and so on but it was not to be. OK then, off to the flower market and have a browse there, meh, I've been here before, plenty of times. I know! The American Book Centre quick look around, nothing doing, hmm last time I was here I walked out with a huge tome under my arm - AC/DC Complete Guitar Transcriptions, for my daughter of course, who else would it be for? This time however nothing, not a thing. Walk on, thinking "wish I'd brought the bike", walk down an unpromising side street, a very attractive window display of silks and satins catches my eye, there are some rather nice looking pastries on display too. I step inside, result! The shop is run by a Portugeuse lady who of course speaks English very well and naturally I have to have a coffee and a sublime custard tart fresh out of a tiny oven by the window. Of course she has been to Scotland and asks if I'm from Edinburgh, I'm not but know it well enough from my frequent visits there to play and listen to music, so we chat about Edinburgh and indyref and Portugal where I've been a few times although not for many years. We are joined by a Dutch gentleman who is entertaining his young nephew from Paris for a few days whilst the boys' father is away on business, an hour passes, I could have happily sat enjoying the conversation all afternoon but I pay and somewhat reluctantly move on.

By this time something has occurred to me, I've been to Amsterdam so many times now, it's a bit like, well going through to Edinburgh. I'm so familiar with where to go and where not to go that although I love visiting, it has maybe lost a bit of the sparkle through over-familiarity, or am I just getting older and jaded? I wish I'd brought the bike on the train.

Actually, bear with me and allow me to backtrack for a bit, I think I've some explaining to do.

When I first visited Holland in 1980 I stayed at a campsite not far from the Olympic Stadium. I had gone there on a bit of a pilgrimage, being a big fan of what I would describe as Euro jazz or jazz-rock, I was always on the look out in Glasgow for albums by bands with names like Association PC, Solution, Pork Pie (yes really). Most of the music I was listening to or searching for was being created by a core of Dutch musicians and so together with my friend David we booked student rail tickets and headed off on my search for vinyl in Amsterdam. Frankly I had no idea where I was going to find any of this stuff but I knew I had to go to Amsterdam and somehow it would, well just happen. At the risk of this turning into a somewhat tedious autobiography, the bottom line was I came back to Glasgow with a ludicrous weight of vinyl in my backpack, all of which I still possess to this day and still enjoy. Indeed this one trip arguably led me down a musical road that I've followed all my life, but now I'm really digressing.

See, I wasn't joking. Fabulous jazz-rock. I'll get me coat...

Would I find what I was looking for...again?

I was fascinated back then by how so many people went around Amsterdam on bicycles, I no longer had one back home, my Raleigh something or other with 20 inch wheels having being gifted to my cousin after gathering rust in my parents cellar for ages after I fell out of love with cycling - I had wanted a "proper bike" or what's now known as a road bike. I used to love hanging around big Angus's house across the road when the gang were round fixing and customising their bikes that looked so amazing to me with their drop handlebars, thin tubing and so on. For my birthday I got the Raleigh, I don't know what it was called, maybe a Raleigh 20? It was a bike, I was pleased, but I wasn't ecstatic, it wasn't a road bike, and I remember being left way behind the others when rides up to the Barrhead dams were happening, someone would wait but then they'd have to go on for fear of being left behind themselves. I fell out of love with the bike. Yet here I was standing by a canal in 21st century Amsterdam wishing I'd not left my Dahon 20 inch wheeled folder in Haarlem, oh the irony of it!

It wasn't a long walk, but having decided I'd had enough I would before leaving head over Vijzelgracht and check out the new Jazz-Inn which had apparently closed sometime in the '90s but re-opened a few years back due to popular demand no less. Two things struck me about the street, I hadn't been over that way for at least five years having cycled along it with the family last time we did a holiday there, but it now appears to be changing and for the better. There are a lot of works going on that I was told are part of a program to further pedestrianise that part of the city which is such a great thing, reclaiming public space back from motorised transport and making it pedestrian friendly seems such an excellent thing to do.

Vijzelgracht, but where was the Jazz-Inn?

Up and down, across the road and up and down again. Could I find the fabled Jazz-Inn? In a word, no. I could have Googled it and phoned but somehow I felt that was wrong. Back in the day when I spotted it from the tram heading into the city centre it felt like I'd stumbled upon something special, I wanted it to remain that way, I wanted to stumble upon it again, but I didn't. I was disappointed, I knew of other record shops on my route back to CS but they wouldn't be quite the same, I'd tried to find a part of my youth but like that it's gone, period.

I found a few really interesting albums in a second hand vinyl store somewhere or other, I can't remember the street name but I could take you there. It was time to go back to the station and catch a train back to Haarlem, food was taken on as I hadn't placed a meal order at the hostel so after a huge plate of Bangers 'n Mash at O'Reilly's Irish Pub I wandered back up the Damrak and caught my train. I wish I'd taken my bike into A'dam with me.

Wednesday 6 May 2015

Holland Part 5 - Rubato - Haarlem

And it came to pass... I was now settled into my accomodation and decided to spend a day cycling in and around the city of Haarlem and a day in Amsterdam. Haarlem is a lovely old Dutch city which I found a pleasure to cycle around. I am told that the infrastructure that enables this is actually pretty standard for Holland neither exceptional nor dreadfully awful, in fact one of my reasons for choosing Haarlem for a visit was this very thing, plus the fabulous organ in St Bova's cathedral it must also be said. I've posted some pictures of my day in Haarlem on other social media and had fairly mixed responses to them, specifically the cycle infrastructure stuff so let me just say this; Haarlem is a beautiful city that is well worth a visit if you are a cyclist, pedestrian, probably even a motorist, there didn't seem to be any shortage of cars, indeed the Dutch seem to have as many cars as the British you just don't have to mix it with them, which is nice.

Saturday is market day in Haarlem and for the first time in my life I encountered the problem of where to park my bike. Not through a total lack of provision a la UK but a massive over abundance of bikes looking for somewhere to lock up. I managed to squeeze into a vacant slot in a stand but then encountered the rookie folding bike rider problem of how to lock the frame to one of those wheel slot stands? After solving this Krypton Factor style task and getting my hands nicely oiled in the process I set off for a wander round town

As well as being a bit of a bicycle enthusiast, I am also known in certain circles as a player of swing jazz guitar but what people don't know much, if anything at all about, is my love of church organs, and Sint Bavo's cathedral in Haarlem has one of the finest examples of a preserved organ built by Christian Muller of Amsterdam.


Among the luminaries to have played this instrument are Handel, Mendelssohn and a young Mozart. Unfortunately hearing a performance on this instrument remains on my bucket-list as there was nothing taking place until May in terms of public performance so I vowed to come back during the summer months and do the double header of Haarlem and Sint Laurencekerke in Alkmaar.

I wasn't too disappointed not hearing the great organ, the trip certainly wasn't planned around it, so a wander round the market was in order, picking up a cracking vegetarian pizza made from scratch by an Italian chap whose clay oven appeared to be hooked up to a cargo bike but I may be mistaken, wishful thinking over actual memory perhaps. No mistaking how good his pizza was or how good the giant stroopwaffel I had afterwards with an excellent coffee to wash it down.


When I eventually found my bike again it was time to pedal around and about Haarlem enjoying the sunshine and the architecture of this beautiful city, all of which was made possible by km after km of bike lanes segregated from motor traffic, sheer bliss. Wisely I used the opportunity to familiarise myself with the centre of Haarlem, figuring out the best routes back to the hostel and just doing what I love to do which is pootling around town aimlessly stopping to take the odd photograph of some old building or bit of bike infrastructure or whatever else took my fancy, a lovely day out.



Early evening was soon upon me and after a 20 min or so ride back to the hostel I wasted no time at all tucking into a delicious supper before retiring to the bar to sample more of the excellent local beers with great company in the form of friendly bar staff and a large group of middle-aged men and women from the southern part of Holland who were already the worse for wear with the local ale when they arrived but were great fun throughout the evening. I myself retired later thinking of my projected trip to Amsterdam in the morning.