This weekend was the highlight of my year. Martin and I rode my 1934 tandem to meet up with other club members and Rotarians in Dordrecht. Here is a small report and some pictures.
“This trip was very much a symbolic ride but great publicity not only for our charity, Alzheimers Society but also an opportunity for me to compare our country’s poor cycling facilities with those in Holland. We had great press coverage and a local TV interview when we arrived. We rode from the Hook of Holland to Dordrecht (about 40 miles) on my 1934 tandem in cold but mainly dry weather. My Rotary Club friend Martin and I wore 1930’s clothing to demonstrate the English love of the bike?! to show how it used to be in days gone by.
We were waved off from Maidstone Town Hall on Thursday 14 May by the Mayor, Cllr Denise Joy, and Vic Codling Chairman of The Maidstone Alzheimer’s Society and then we travelled to catch the overnight ferry from Harwich. (OK so we did that bit by car, but whose counting?!)
When waiting to get on the ferry we met several Dutch,British and German motor cyclists who admired the bike and gave generously to our charity in the cans we had hanging on the side. We also met two “real” club bikers who had cycled in the morning to a meeting in London and were on their way back home to Amsterdam, just a quick 85k journey when the ferry berthed in the morning! Now that is what I call commuting. A generous British couple in a car leaving the ferry gave us a 20 euro note as we were leaving the ship. So everyone was very kind and we have raised in total, with the collection and other contributions, in the region of £600 for the charity.
We were met at the Hook of Holland ferry port by a Dutch Rotarian who also dressed up and rode with us all the way. We were also escorted by three lovely vintage Morris 8 cars owned by some other Dordrecht Rotarians. My tandem suffered a broken front brake cable in Rotterdam but as there weren’t any real downhills and it was all on cycle paths, we didn’t really need brakes. The rear handlebars also nearly fell off but we just about fixed them so Martin could hang on when we reached great speeds!
The old cars and bike cavalcade made a great sight as we arrived in Dordrecht in the afternoon to be met by our flag waiving Rotarians and spouses who had taken the easy route from Maidstone by coach and arrived just before us. We were presented with 150 Euro cheque by the Alderman of Dordrecht and the Rotary Club of Dordrecht ter Merwe our hosts, decided to match that amount. A great weekend followed, in a country dominated by great people and of course, bikes.
How did we get home? The luggage space in a coach is ideal for housing a tandem, now there is an idea for bus companies! Oh,and I was not aware of any potholes.”
