{"id":7020,"date":"2016-07-27T16:08:42","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T15:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=7020"},"modified":"2016-07-27T16:08:42","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T15:08:42","slug":"cycling-make-civilized-nation-part-1-cycling-holland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=7020","title":{"rendered":"Does cycling make a civilized nation part 1?  Cycling in Holland."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Does cycling in Holland make it a civilized nation?\u00a0 I have just returned from a family holiday in Holland.\u00a0 We had been once before but only to Amsterdam.\u00a0 We knew Amsterdam was cycling crazy and I&#8217;ve put some pictures up on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bookdepository.com\/No-Oil-Lamp-Andy-Mellen\/9780232529449\" target=\"_blank\">books<\/a> Facebook page if not the blog.\u00a0 However this time we did a circular tour of Holland and saw more of the cycling culture at first hand and joined in by hiring bikes in two different places.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some general observations on cycling in Holland.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First, its mainly off road in a series of tarmacked and well maintained cycle paths.\u00a0 These make a very complete network, but are as we found are not everywhere.\u00a0 Unlike Germany they are one side of the road, not both.\u00a0 In most places you can cycle on the road though in some places its banned.\u00a0 Since they are on one side of the road they often cross the road from one side to the other.\u00a0 This has its cons obviously.\u00a0 One big drawback that I can see is that in many places mopeds are allowed to use the same paths.<\/li>\n<li>They are well signed with numbers, place names and distances.\u00a0 Red signs mean mopeds can share the path, green signs are for cycles only.\u00a0\u00a0 There are series of national routes.<\/li>\n<li>Its very very flat.\u00a0 This makes it very easy.\u00a0 We found that this makes a real difference when driving, the car was getting amazing fuel economy.<\/li>\n<li>An astonishing range of people cycle and a lot of them.\u00a0 We saw the very young, the very old and those getting on a bit.\u00a0 Almost all children cycle to school, this was quite clear.\u00a0 We saw a a scout group on the move, again about 50 kids all cycling.\u00a0 People take their dogs on the front or the back, usually in a wooden box.\u00a0 I saw one old bloke cycling with one hand and holding a crutch with the other hand.<\/li>\n<li>The Dutch make it very easy to cycle.\u00a0 Renting a bike is easy and cheap.\u00a0 Here is the scene that greeted us on Schiermonnikoog.\u00a0 After a few minutes we were off to explore the Island having paid, adjusted saddle height and pumped one tire up.\u00a0 The rental company had our mobile contact details and promised to bring a replacement anywhere if we broke down<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_2418.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7033 size-medium\" title=\"Schiermonnikoog cycling hire\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_2418-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_2418\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_2418-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_2418-1024x685.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>In a national park cycling was encouraged with free bikes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_2589.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7036 size-medium\" title=\"Pick up a bike in national park.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_2589-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_2589\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_2589-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_2589-1024x685.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dutch bikes are fairly low spec, a bit basic and a bit boring frankly.\u00a0 They all look the same come in a basic range of colours and have a maximum of 7 gears and usually a built in lock.<\/li>\n<li>The whole country is set for cycling not driving at least in urban areas.\u00a0 Road narrowing and lack of signs for cars make navigating difficult.\u00a0 At least once we used the cycle signs at junctions.<\/li>\n<li>Cycling in Holland is getting more not less popular.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_2346.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-7038\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_2346-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_2346\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_2346-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_2346-1024x685.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>In the next post I will have a look at some other sustainability issues as well as the central question I have raised.<\/p>\n<p>Neil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Does cycling in Holland make it a civilized nation?\u00a0 I have just returned from a family holiday in Holland.\u00a0 We had been once before but only to Amsterdam.\u00a0 We knew Amsterdam was cycling crazy and I&#8217;ve put some pictures up &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=7020\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycling","category-faith"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin 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