Amsterdam

[revilla]

This time next week I should be in the Seven with SWMBO, on the wrong side of the road and well on the way to Amsterdam! Can't wait ... just hope the weather is kind to us. SWMBO is from Indonesia - getting a visa for the UK was hard enough, thought we might have a bit of trouble getting her a Schengen visa but it's all sorted, and she got a multi-entry visa so we can maybe nip over to France at some point later in the summer too. Car is all sorted, GB stickers on, spares packed, beam benders at the ready, insurance and breakdown cover confirmed ready for my longest blat to date (a good 3 hours each side of the channel, each way).

 

Will be nice to have a couple of nights together away from the kids.

[Jonathan Kay]

If you're still looking for things to do how about renting a couple of recumbents for a trip in the country? Great shop with some amazing machines.

 

Have fun

 

Jonathan

 

Edited by - Jonathan Kay on 19 Jun 2014 14:31:07

[tbird]

if you are planning to visit the beaches around Zanvoort while you are in Amsterdam make a good early start, with this weather the traffic jams will start early and parking will be a problem, great area and great herring and seafood from the vans, well worth a visit. 29th is an Italian themed supercar event at the circuit might be fun, Zandvoort Circuit

 

Tim

[revilla]

Thanks guys for the suggestions ... unfortunately I may not be able to take up either of them ...

 

@Jonathan - Chia is suffering from a damaged disk in her back, old motorcycle injury. I think she'll be stiff enough with a total of 14 hours in the Seven (and she is being extremely supportive on this one), if I dared to suggest she spent the time there in a recumbent seat pedalling I think I might be pushing it.

 

@Tim - Would be lovely, but we are unfortunately only going for a three day trip in total (leaving two hyperactive toddlers with my parents, I don't think they could cope any longer!) which means out on 26th, 27th in Amsterdam and back on 28th, so we'll miss it.

[tbird]

try to get to the zanvoort area anyway, miles of sandy beaches, restaurants and seafood vans, always worth going just for a stroll along the front and eating pickled herring and fries from the vans.

 

 

Tim

[BenF]

One of my favourite bars anywhere is in Amsterdam, might be worth a drink there

 

Bar Weber, Marnixstraat 397

 

Lots of classic album covers on the wall and a really nice atmosphere, well away from the stag parties.

 

 

[Boris]

Andrew, expect lots of traffic North of Antwep on the A1. As the traffic builds DO NOT get caught in the slow lane as the trucks can't use the outside lane and they take forever to clear the roadworks.

 

There are lots of road works in Amsterdam just now (unless they've been completed in the last 2 weeks) and there are several points where you'll need to have a care in the 7 due to raised iron work etc, these are mostly in the city centre.

 

Have a great trip.

 

[tbird]

speaking of favourite watering holes if you wish to treat SWMBO then Chez Georges is a very good place to eat if you like modern french classic style, may be difficult to get a table but midweek easier than weekend.

 

 

Tim

 

 

[Blackbirdman]

Best steaks in town, used by the locals not tourists.

 

here

 

Matt

 

 

[revilla]

Thanks all for the hints and tips, we only had a short time but we had a great trip and are back in one piece. After building up a comprehensive touring spares and tools collection to cover the "inevitable" electro-mechanical hiccups it seems the only thing I hadn't specifically prepared for was the one that happened - the car ran faultlessly there and back 😬

 

One of my abiding memories of the trip will be the reception the car got in the Netherlands. Constant waves and thumbs up. We had lorry drivers alongside us shouting down from their cabs. We came up behind another unusual vehicle on the motorway, some sort of vintage Citroen I think that had been customised and converted to open top, and as we approached the passenger turned around to look at us then bent down forward. I said to Chia "she's gone for her camera ..." and we spent the next mile or so doing a bit of formation low-flying while our two ladies took photographs of each other and the cars.

 

At one point Chia was waving to someone out of the side window and as I ducked down a bit to look across (we had the half-hood on at the time) I saw it was a policewoman leaning out of her window with a camera giving us a grinning thumbs up.

 

We had a fantastic time and met many warm and friendly people. It was the first time we've really done any touring in the Seven and the main things we learned were i) it is actually quite practical if you are sensible about packing etc. and ii) it's bl**dy good fun!

 

One thing which did surprise me was how natural it seemed driving the Seven on the right hand side of the road. I've always it found it felt much more natural for me driving in Europe in a left-hand-drive hire car than in my own right-hand-drive car, it somehow helped my brain reverse the picture. Maybe it's because in the Seven you sit closer in to the center line but it felt completely "right". Maybe it's just me, but that's what I found anyway. Maybe I was just enjoying myself too much to care.

 

Google Earth Track Log: here

 

Total 881 miles round trip door to door at 33mpg. Roughly two legs of four hours each way (with heavy traffic), one each side of the channel, plus a good two hours delay caused by what looked to be a very serious and sadly most probably fatal head-on between a car and a lorry on the ring road around Antwerp which had closed the road completely.

[Jonathan Kay]

:-)

 

Jonathan