All 4 Love Tour - An account in words and photos of Jeremy's Taylor's bike ride through Holland, Germany and Denmark

JEREMY TAYLOR: WRITER - TEACHER - JUGGLER

Jeremy's ALL 4 LOVE Cycle Tour - April 2004

On April the 9th, Jeremy arrived in Den Haag to start his journey, the same journey taken by the Harris family in his book, All 4 Love. If you'd like to buy a copy of the book, contact Jeremy for more details. Here you can read about what happened on his journey. Before you start... Try a quick quiz...

1. What temperature do you think it was inside Jeremy's tent in Holland?

a) - 17 Celsius b) 1.7 Celsius c) 17 Celsius.

2. What animals do you think Jeremy saw on the trip?

a) coypus (like big rats) b) camels (like a horse with humps) c) storks (like, er, storks)

3. Who did Jeremy meet on the trip?

a) a friend of the Queen b) a German popstar c) Elvis Presley

DAY 1: Jeremy arrived in Den Haag at 13.27 and it took him forever to find Kringloop where they sell second hand bikes. He finally found it and Ruth was very helpful. He bought a Koga Miyata as he 'liked the feel of it'. Here it is outside an excellent bike shop just outside Den Haag. He fitted a front rack and bought a handlebar bag. Was this bike going to carry him and 26 kilos of stuff all the way to Esbjerg?

After buying the bike and fixing it up, Jeremy pedalled out to the coast to meet up with his old juggling partner (Captain) Mickey and his wife Sylvie. Mickey and Sylvie looked after Jeremy for two nights, letting him sit in their warm van (it was 1.7 degrees outside!). After a beer (or was it two) Jeremy cycled up the coast to Wassenaar, to a campsite attached to a theme park.

Here we see Jeremy's bivouac. Very light, just 1.3 kilos, but also very small and not exactly waterproof. Jeremy also took a max/min thermometer with him to see what the temperature was inside and outside the bivouac. When it was time for bed, around midnight it was 1.7 degrees outside. But inside the tent it was, er, 1.7 degrees. Luckily Jeremy has a good sleeping bag. Unluckily, it rained during the night...

Day 2: Dutch cycle lanes were amazing and Jeremy should have raced along them. Unfortunately Mickey 'fixed' Jermey's bike which left the front brake on all the time. He averaged about 8km per hour and old ladies raced past him. Was he really going to get to Esbjerg at this speed?

It was on day two that Jeremy saw his first bulb fields. There are an amazing site and he took loads of pictures. This one was near Nordwijk and gave Jeremy a good excuse to stop and take a picture - and have a rest from cycling. He covered a miserable 30km on day two making a grand total of just 45km. At this rate it would take two months to get to Esbjerg. Something would have to change...

Here is Jeremy's bivouac looking much healthier. Alas Jeremy didn't feel the same and after another great meal from Sylvie, he enjoyed a deep sleep. Apart from sore legs, a sore bum, sunburn, a bronchitic chest and a pain in both arms and hands, he was feeling great.

Day 3: With his brakes fixed, Jeremy said auf Wiedersehen to Mickey and Sylvie and set off at 25km p/h - and promptly got lost in the dunes North of Zandvoort. Finally back on the right road - or rather cycle path - he set off through great countryside, trees blossoming on either side of the path, birds singing and plenty of sunshine. What more could a man ask for?

Through the lovely town of Bergen, Jeremy continued northwards towards Den Oever. This picture was taken on a straight road with an amazing tunnel of branches. As you can see, the sun was still up, throwing long shadows across the beautiful countryside, full of bulbfields, windmills and canals.

Bowing trees? The strength of the south-westerly winds can be clearly in this picture. Which way would the wind be blowing when Jeremy set off to cross the Afsluitdijk, 32 kilometres of very straight - and very flat cycle path?

Many people think of Holland as a featureless landscape. While there are no real hills, there are still plenty of amazing views. Thousands of canals criss-cross the country, a haven to thousands of wild birds and animals. To enlarge the picture (and all the others in the series) simply double click on the image.

His resting place at the end of Day 3, a lovely campsite near Den Oever, 120 km from Zandvoort. Jeremy wasn't back on schedule but he had done a lot to improve his daily average. He spent the evening eating frikadellen and chips in the campsite bar - which was hosting a bingo evening. An amazingly clear night meant that the sky was full of stars. It also meant that it was bloody cold in the bivouac that night.

Day 4: He was lucky! The sunshine continued and the wind was blowing from the south west - helping to blow Jeremy across the Afsluitdijk at an average speed of 28 km p/h. Hats off to the Dutch engineers that built the dijk - particularly for having the brains to put a cycle lane in next to the main road.

After the dijk, Jeremy headed north to the lovely town of Harlingen. As you can see the weather was wonderful and the great Dutch bike lanes continued. There was a slight click on the occasional turn of his left pedal but surely that wouldn't stop him getting to Leeuwarden, would it?

No. At ten past four, not long after seeing this heron, Jeremy cruised into Leeuwarden. In the centre of town there was a sign indicating a campsite so off he pedalled...and pedalled...and pedalled... ten kilometres later he was not a happy bunny. The signs to the campsite continued - along a road (financed by the EU) along which bicycles could not travel and there was no cycle path! Jeremy tried to follow the road but ended up in an industrial estate. Grrrrrrrrr.

He pedalled back into town (past a bike shop - just in case you're looking at the website, Santa) and then out on the road to Groningen. Again, he couldn't find a campsite so knocked on a door of a house. He was given instructions to pedal another 20 minutes - by which time he was seriously pissed off - only to find that there was no campsite! Just before lying down in the middle of the road and dying, a car pulled up. It was the man on whose door he had knocked half an hour before. He (and his wife) generously invited Jeremy to join them for dinner - and to stay the night.

Day 5: Jeremy's first school - Pieter Jelles school in Leeuwarden. Jeremy cycled back into town to be met by Jaap Noorman, the friendly head of English at the school. Jeremy then spent the morning visiting teachers and English classes. Here is the final class that he visited as they try to work out a murder mystery puzzle.

After a quick lunch with the Headmaster, Jeremy set off again. Should he pedal up to the North coast to visit the Seehondencreche (seal hospital and orphanage) - as visited by Emily in the book, All 4 Love. This would be longer but would follow more of the North Sea Cycle Route and offer far more in the way of culture and natural beauty. The shorter route, due east towards Groningen would simply follow the main road. Which route should he take?

Jeremy arrived in Groningen at about six o'clock. (If you had a bronchitic chest, sunburn, and very tired legs, would you have cycled an extra 150km to see a few sick and orphaned seals?).

Day 6: Ah, the joys of cycling in Holland! Here we see a cycle/pedestrian crossing, clearly marked - and the cars actually do stop! Can you read this, French Transport Minister? Even if you can't, you can at least look at the pictures...

Surely not far to go to Esbjerg now.... A sign not far outside Groningen. An interesting historical aside. Most people know that Adolf Hitler was an evil man but did you know that he was so evil that when he invaded Holland, he confiscated all their bikes? Nowadays, when the Dutch beat the Germans at football, they still chant, "We hebben het fiets terug!" meaning, "We got our bikes back!" Thanks Mickey for that one.

French Transport Minister, look at this! A long straight cyclepath, parallel to a main road. How much more sensible to separate fast-moving boxes of steel and slower-moving, vulnerable bicycles. The benefits of improved transport,a healthier population and less pollutionare are clear. What is stopping you from putting such lanes all across France?

Great food in Holland! Soused herring with raw onions on a bed of white bread - a snip at one euro eighty!

Into Germany and, a pleasant surprise, the great cycle lanes and canals continued. Jeremy went North and crossed the Elbe on a small ferry, ending up in the Ostfriesen town of Aurich and his first youth hostel.

Day 7: What a breakfast! An amazing buffet spread - much better than some fancier hotels offer. Aurich also had a swimming pool where Jeremy showed off his sunburnt legs to a bunch of German old ladies.

Heading west from Aurich, Jeremy followed the cyclepath next to a canal. Great weather and just the occasional cyclist to say 'moin' to. (Moin is a local word which seems to be like 'hi').

Here is Jeremy's bike loaded up. Note the solar panels hanging from the side of the bike. His helmet is also on the path. After Jeremy was knocked off his bike in 2003, Jeremy doesn't leave home without it. (Well, he does if he's walking - he's not THAT stupid, honest.)

Common in the canals in North East Germany, Jeremy was able to photograph what he presumed was a 'water rat'. His French friends told him it was a 'ragondin' and his dictionary tells him that is a 'coypu'. Apparently, along with the better-known frogs' legs and snails, they are eaten in France. Bon appetit!

The rest of Day 7 saw Jeremy battling against strong South Easterly winds as he cycled around the Wattenmeer. He ended up in Norderhams on the River Weser.

So after the first week of cycling, Jeremy had covered 541 kilometres, less than half way to Esbjerg. With legs the colour of an Egyptian sunset, a sore backside, sore hands, weak chest and very tired legs, would he ever make it? He contemplated this over a delicious Doner Kebab near the station in Norderhams before going to the youth hostel and sleeping for ten hours.

What happened in the second week? Click here to continue the story.