Their story, in their words…
It was an ambitious cycle to Amsterdam, started with Amir and Deniz, early in Finchley, North London. The first day of cycling took us through the rolling hills of the English countryside towards Dover. Later in the afternoon, we arrived at the port, boarded the ferry to Calais, and took a short rest on the boat before resuming our ride.
At Calais, we took a bike ride to St. Omer and stayed overnight with a local host who asked us in. The little French town and the friendliness of our host were just what we needed after the long bicycle ride. On the next morning, we started off towards Antwerp.
The countryside was beautiful to start with but got worse toward the evening as the weather turned when we approached the city of Antwerp. Next, a thunderstorm hit-soaked by rain and reducing our gait. Despite slippery roads and strong gusts of wind, we fought our way through the storm and reached our host’s house, soaked, but relieved.
On the last day, we cycled from Antwerp to Amsterdam. The weather was better, and the flat landscape of Holland was much easier to negotiate. We felt revitalized by the picturesque Dutch landscape as we were pedalling our bikes past many windmills and small canals.
Finally, after hours of biking, we reached Amsterdam, elated to reach our destination. This was a hard ride, with times of weariness and disabling hindrances like the storm, but a rewarding one.
The biking from London to Amsterdam gave us memories that we would always have and brought our friendship closer. From the varied landscapes of England, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the comradeship shared between us, this was a trip for the memory books.
