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September 4, 2006
Cycling to Amsterdam
I'm cycling to Amsterdam tomorrow. This wouldn't be particularly impressive if I lived in Alkmaar, the Cheese Capital of the World, but I live in London. For those of you unfamiliar with European geography, London is in a completely different country than Amsterdam.
London is the capital of England, an island nation with a history filled with dragons, metal-clad knights, and despotic rulers prone to lopping off the heads of their own wives.
Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, a nation below sea level on the edge of a fierce and unpredictable sea -- a land of suicidal madmen in other words.
When I leave my comfortable dwelling on Tuesday morning I will travel 140km by bicycle through the dragon-infested English countryside before arriving at the ferry port of Harwich. Throughout the entire journey I will be unprotected by armour of any kind.
(Well, except for a helmet made of styrofoam.)
Myself and twelve fellow travellers will board a ship and make a dangerous overnight crossing to the Hook of Holland. From there we travel 76km along the coast ot the North Sea which may at any time decide to submerge the very land we cycle upon.
We will spend Wednesday night at the Zeeduin hotel in Wijk aan Zee. Please stop in for a drink if you are in town.
On Thursday we make our way to Amsterdam via a circuitous route through the North of Holland. I'm not exactly sure why we are taking the long way to Amsterdam. It may have something to do with the fact the man who is organising the trip is a bit of a looney. I can tell he is a looney by the fact he thinks we can raise £8000 for the charity Children in Need by riding around on our bikes. So far we've raised just slightly more than half that amount. Please help prove that Rhys isn't a looney. You can help some unlucky children at the same time. What a deal! Donate Here.
For more on our adventure and to follow our progress in real time thanks to dozens of satelites orbiting our planet, go to http://www.ibcbikeride.co.uk/.
Posted by YandaMan at September 4, 2006 6:27 PM
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