AWC Going Dutch Sept 2020

Our Pandemic Vacation: Knooppunten
by Anne van Oorschot
planner on their website (much like the train trip planner) to
plan a trip going from knooppunt to knooppunt (www.anwb.nl/
fietsroutes/fietsknooppuntenplanner). The distances are given so
you know just how long a trip you’re planning; you can make a
little circle starting and ending at the knooppunt closest to your
home or plan a multi-day trip. While the website is in Dutch,
there is a short film that explains how to use the planner, and
by following the little arrow as it moves around, it’s fairly clear
how to use it. The planned route can be printed out so you can
easily take it with you to guide you as you ride. There are also
several apps available for your smart phone by ANWB and
others, some of which are available in English.
In our case, we decided on a four-day biking trip starting from
our home in Tilburg, in the southern province of Brabant. Our
120-mile (200-kilometer) trip more or less followed the Maas
and Waal Rivers with overnight stops in three small fortified cities: Ravenstein, Zaltbommel
and Woudrichem. On our last day, we also passed the beautiful fortified city of Heusden.
After planning our route, we went online, found accommodations and made reservations. Not
knowing what the coronavirus regulations would be a few weeks later when we would actually
make the trip, we also reserved dinner locations in the three cities, and we were set to go!
I
first heard about the “mystery virus” in China in January 2020, and thought, what a shame
for them. Who could have known the effect it would have on all of our lives thousands of
miles away! The summer of 2020 was going to be a big one for our family, with two of
our children getting married two weeks apart on the big front lawn of our vacation cabin in
northern Minnesota. The whole family would be there, plus in-laws and many friends from
the Netherlands. How different our summer turned out! In addition to coronavirus restrictions
in place in both countries, large gatherings were not being permitted, and the travel ban
would keep Dutch family and friends―including my son’s fiancée!―from entering America.
After canceling first one, then the second wedding, my Dutch husband and I pondered if we
would still go. While it was likely that my Dutch husband Hein would have been allowed
to enter the US, it wasn’t a certainty. Plus, what if one of us got sick? Compared to Dutch
healthcare, the system in the US does not look very attractive, certainly not in the rural area
where our cabin is located. We finally made the decision not to go to Minnesota for our usual
two months this summer, but what to do then? By that time, house rentals were almost full,
and camping didn’t seem like a corona-safe
alternative. We decided to try something we
had thought about but never got around to
doing: a vacation by bike.
Since the Dutch are such avid cyclists,
it’s no surprise they have developed a
fabulous navigation system for recreational
cycling called the Knooppunten Netwerk.
This is an intricate web of fietspadden (bike
paths) throughout the entire country, with
the intersections of different paths―the
knooppunten―being numbered. The network
was laid out by the ANWB and there is a
44 GOING DUTCH
Hein’s biking tempo is a bit faster than
mine, so I find myself continually a few meters
behind him. This makes it difficult to carry on
a conversation and that’s not ideal for either
of us. We rented a tandem bike once when
we were away with a group of friends for the
weekend―and we loved it!―so we decided to
get a used one of our own. On Monday, June
29, we headed out on our bicycle built for two
with toiletries, extra clothes and rain gear and
the day’s knooppunten marked in the holder on
my handlebar. Being in the back, I was the navigator,
so I had something to do besides pedal.
The trip was really a lot of fun! There were lots of interesting things to see, plenty
of conversation, not too much wind and a small sprinkling of rain. My favorite city was
Woudrichem, which we arrived at via a little ferry. We had to ring a bell on the shore, and on
the other side, the ferry driver came out and
boated over to fetch us. Our accommodation
was in the single small apartment of a former
ammunition storage area built into the dike
around the city and was utterly charming!
(www.zuswoudrichem.com/kazemat-zus/)
So, in spite of (or because of) the pandemic,
we had a delightful mini-vacation
and definitely plan to repeat the idea.
Whether you are in the mood for a Sunday
afternoon outing or a mini-vacation, I can
heartily recommend the Knooppunten
Network.
SEPTEMBER 2020 45