Life In New Lanes

17
Jun
2026

Cycling & Its Paradise

Have I given adequate impression of my love of cycling? For my posterity, although the technical challenges of saving my journal to a no cost yet still accessible place remain to be addressed, I thought this warranted a post in its own right.

I have played bike tig, pulled along neighbours on roller skates, cycled to the local tennis club, grabbed a tow from a passing milk float and other such joyful, not including a broken elbow, activity, all before leaving primary school in the 60s/early 70s heyday of childhood freedom in the mostly car-free streets. As a teenager I also regularly walked the 2.5 miles or so to secondary school so that I could spend or save the bus money, and then used the bike to get to sixth form from age 16. One particularly embarrassing moment was tipping into and causing a crash with my co-riders, one of whom Carole from previous posts, whilst riding 3 abreast in front of a school bus and busy traffic at the end of the school day. We were all ok and lived to tell the tale of the denting of our 16/17-year old pride & cred.

The cycling continued through university where I was knocked off my bike by a bus (bus-driver’s fault) whilst cycling across an exit of a large elevated roundabout near the Aston campus in central Birmingham; grabbing my bike’s handlebars whilst it was in the process of being stolen from in front of the sports hall so that the thieves abandoned their attempt; cycling close to the back of a bus for the drag along the Oxford road to university in Manchester, and crashing into it when it stopped, not unexpectedly! at a bus stop; and then the accident driven into by a car whilst cycling to my work in London which did put me into hospital for a short stay to repair a severed tendon in my foot, and monitor the internal bleeding in my knees. The compensation from this event provided our honeymoon to St Lucia. In all cases I have fortunately been able to cycle on.

Continuing as a parent, I, & my ex-hubs who also likes cycling, have gone to much trouble to encourage (impose) the use of bikes by our children, from bringing my eldest home from after-school club sitting on a cushion on the panier rack on my way back from work in London, to child-seats and then trailer bikes, really appreciating dedicated bike routes in holiday areas, and cycling across residential areas in our home town to get to school etc.

I first sought the cycling world of the Netherlands when I brought my daughter and youngest son, less than 10 years old, to Amsterdam via a mini-cruise from Hull to Rotterdam. The most striking thing of this trip I remember was seeing the scale of the above-ground multi-storey-ish bike rack at the central station, which almost 30 years later is the most amazing place and below ground. We hired bikes and it was pretty hair-raising at times keeping tabs of Tim in amongst the bike traffic even then.

For some reason this interest has morphed abit in my later leisure & time/information rich years into what’s now named ‘urbanism’ with a focus on the use of the bike for transport, and all the implications of the reduction of car use for living. Reading commentary from people from all over the world confirms imo that the Netherlands is the global model for this in reality and I feel that what it has achieved over the last 50 years really ‘fits’ me. The ‘Not Just Bikes‘ channel amongst others and the books written by advocates such as Melissa & Chris Bruntlett have led to deeper reflection on how this country and cities in other places such as Copenhagen, Paris & the London heightened culture war battle-space have developed, and their decades-long or relatively recent intentionality regarding the promotion of walking, cycling and public transport for better living and as necessary car alternatives in highly-populated, space-premium, overheating cities.

It’s not just the cycling infrastructure that’s so great here, but also the way nature seems to be right there, in amongst, or easily accessible on the edge of, urban living – trees, waterways, reeds, parks. If only I could transplant the extended family as well as all my friends to this country! Not to mention the regained benefits of being EU citizens, particularly given its chance of a bloc potentially able to resist to a greater extent tech-bro & strongman fascist power.

 

 

Posted by Jackie in Musings, Netherlands, Netherlands, Places, The Good, 0 comments
16
Jun
2026

The Netherlands with Toddler & Baby

The Eurocamp chalet/static caravan was on the Koningshof Vakantiepark between Leiden and the coast at Katwijk, and promised a lovely indoor pool for young children, an indoor play area and nice cafe/reception, and of course flat cycling. We had decided that I should stay in the chalet rather than booking a pitch, and the best bedroom for me given the sleeping shenanigans of the little ones, was the tiny bunk-bed room, smaller than my very small bathroom at home, which I had all to myself! Being an adult in this human environment meant absolute exhaustion by the early evening, so even a narrow, just about long-enough bottom bunk did meet the need. My daughter & family eventually got used to the accommodation after initial disappointment following their second stay at the comparative luxury of a Terhills Centreparc chalet in Belgium.

We’ve had slightly better weather than a British spring, the rain mostly holding off and periods of sunshine between the clouds, but always windy. The location of the chalet within the site was pleasant in the greenery and private, albeit at a good walk to the pool & cafe, with a generous decking. The pool was enjoyed by all, for which another thank goodness, and being able to order meals in the cafe from 5pm was also really helpful. I think we’d all agree the 4-night stay was enough for the assembled individuals in that setting. Meanwhile my son & his partner were happy working in their restored apartment.

Re the fulfillment of the family cycling à la dutch dreams and unlike a year ago, my granddaughter was happy to sit in the Thule bike seat on the e-bike for rides with one or more parents to the Katwijk seaside and the beautiful historic town of Leiden – see last year’s post. I and my grandson spent a couple of hours in the soft play area and cafe. Unfortunately the beach was not able to be endured for very long with the continuous sand-blasting from the north sea wind, reminiscent of my childhood holidays camping in Cornwall. I also cycled to Katwijk, had a slightly better morning of weather, sitting in a cafe 2-wheel usage watching, and it was interesting to see the seals very near on the river estuary.

On the way back to the ferry at Rotterdam (I was staying on for another week), a visit to Peppa Pig World helped spend a couple of hours. Yes, holidaying with very young children provides a change for the parents, but in most cases more work and less sleep! The lure is there, with assumptions of perfect weather, and no sickness etc. All things considered, this holiday went as well as could be expected, and was hard work. Earlier on in the year with that holiday lure, we booked a family-friendly all-inclusive week (to remove the whole food tyrannical ‘work’) in the Algarve for my offspring couples and the combined 3-year old and two babies under 1 in September. Perhaps that was a year too soon, but too late now. On the other hand, it’s another extended weight training activity period for me. 🤣

Posted by Jackie in Musings, Netherlands, Places, 0 comments
15
Jun
2026

Cologne Family Gathering

It was a good drive the 270 or so miles from Turckheim to a few kms south of Cologne, and by lucky chance I was doing it on a german bank holiday where most lorries are not allowed to be on the motorways. This meant that I could mostly drive at my preferred 58mph, well below any motorway speed limit in that country, on a two-lane road where legally the signs indicate lorries are not allowed to overtake. I had once or twice to use an exit slip lane to let a justifiably hacked-off lorry driver overtake, thereby getting him (it usually is) away from my van’s backside.

I had booked the Cologne City campsite as last year for Friday to Monday but it was fully booked for the Thursday. Park4Night happily had suggestions for road parking in a business park in the south of the city, so Blue found its place in front of a Volvo dealership and I cycled the 6km to my son & partner’s flat. The next day I did a first and rode pillion on my son’s Vespa, which he had gone to great bureaucratic lengths last year to import, to get back to the van to drive it to the campsite. The scooter, which he calls Terzaghi, has really found its purpose in the less rain, more conducive to vehicles and 2 wheels other than cars Manchester, Cologne. (I think I like this german method of more complex sentence construction). It’s used for all manner of quick journeys, which are longer than those done on his bikes. In the Netherlands, these can also be ridden on the bike paths! Car parking is the challenge in the city, so if you’ve managed to snaffle a space close by, you don’t want to move your car unless you really have to. And it’s honestly not necessary for anywhere within the city you might want to go – two legs, or two wheels get you everywhere, and if not, trams are fantastic. The flat is 10 mins walk to lovely parks, and to the Rhein river, as well as all the cafes/restaurants of a lively city. Bikes and scooters can be locked up and left in the tree-lined walkways in the middle of these old streets or many of the old apartment buildings have basement store rooms.

Having got the van happily ensconced in the campsite, I now cycled my e-bike with kid’s bike seat back to the flat to await the arrival of daughter and son-in-law plus granddaughter nearly 3, and grandson 6 months. I was also able to stay at the flat for the 3 nights on their sofa-bed with essential eye-mask, but had to be prepared for daddy to bring the baby into the living room from potentially 5am!! if he could not be settled, as is their usual modus operandi. Fortunately we had from around 5.30 – 7am across the 3 mornings, while the others slept on.

I had bought a child-seat for the Brompton, so the aim 🙄 was for us all to do a ‘lovely’ bike ride along the river on the Saturday. Whilst my granddaughter was perfectly happy now at her great age to sit on this and ride along, having been resistant at a younger age to the proper Thule bike seat, the 6-month old was also very frightened and unhappy to say the least, to sit on this latter for any length of time. Flexibility is the unavoidable name of the game. We ended up spending a couple of hours in the lovely nearby park, reassuring our little girl that there was nothing to be scared about by the man inconsiderately vacuuming up water and leaves out of the pedaloes near where we were sitting in the cafe for some lunch! Gardening equipment noise is also added to that of toilet hand-dryers on the list of threats.

Sunday’s nicer weather replacing changeable 17deg, the heatwave having been and gone, rewarded the risk taken in booking a few weeks prior quite an expensive trip to the nearby Phantasienland – Cologne’s Alton Towers equivalent. Would the children be ok for this with loud noise, lots of people etc etc, gulp? After a shaky start, things picked up. My granddaughter loved the toddler rides, the dragons walking round, the sun shone, queues not too long for the adult rides, and my primary job, not being a theme park fan, of looking after the baby, was just about managed. Not because he was unhappy, but because to keep him happy requires constant carrying, and he’s a bruiser. What he is most unhelpfully not happy about is for the most part sitting in the pram. I thought the park was absolutely fantastic – the set designs, rides, provision for toddlers, including a water park, plenty of staff keeping all of the place clean, lots of eateries with nice food. THANK GOODNESS a good time was had by all, given the money spent!

Monday was the grand depart with the hosts needing to be at their home-working desks for 8am virtual meetings. The logistics therefore involved first getting the spare bedroom vacated with all bags and gubbins moved into the living room, so that Jen’s working environment could be displaced from this into that, and Luke working in their bedroom for his early meetings. He then had time to  indispensably help with the great move of all stuff down the stairs to the pavement, as the flat is on the 3rd floor where the floors are double-height, no lift in these old buildings, and the car to be brought to as nearby as possible. I meanwhile had two bikes to get across the river to the campsite, with cycling obviating the need for a car journey to go right to the outskirts of the city so as to use one of the dual carriageway bridges over the Rhein.

A british person may have thought this preposterous and absolutely bonkers, but not a Cambodian or even particularly northern European city dweller.

Thanks & credit go to our wonderful hosts. They offered such welcoming hospitality to the invaders of their lovely dinky environment.

And so, off to the next stop with the family – a Eurocamp static on a campsite between the city of Leiden and the north sea.

Posted by Jackie in Equipment, Germany, Places, 1 comment
14
Jun
2026

50th Anniversary Meetup

When I and my longest-standing friend Carole were 16, we went on our first independent little holiday youth-hostelling in the Yorkshire Dales. So it was a great pleasure to be able to celebrate this anniversary with a travels meet-up again as our paths on the way to Austria and from Annecy to Cologne were able to cross in Colmar in France’s Alsace region.

The driving’s musings this time included thoughts about the way this area, with it’s germanic names, had passed back and forth between the two countries. I had to do a double-think at times to make sure I had not gone wrong and ended up in Germany.

We stayed at a campsite in the wine village of Turckheim, 7km cycling along the river and through the vineyards to the lovely historic centre of Colmar. We actually did some wine-tasting in the ‘caves’ of the village, took the bus to the town, as well as a concert in the village church of baroque music including Handel’s Messiah from the two choirs in the village. Colmar was definitely a bigger town than I was expecting, although the centre was quite compact.

Love whiling away time in beautiful city parks

Carole moved on looking forward to Austria and I stayed for a further 3 nights, enjoying cycling the e-bike (hills!) along the Munster valley, walking above the village among the vineyards, and back into Colmar, girding my loins for the week ahead in Cologne then the Netherlands with  grandchildren.

There’s loads more to explore in this area, being in the foothills of the Vosges mountains with tourist buses doing circuits in the Summer season, and very well-served by public transport. Strasbourg and Mulhouse are about 1 hour away by train, so it’s definitely worth another visit.

Posted by admin in France, Places, 2 comments
28
May
2026

Annecy – Beyond Expectations

The lake, the town, the tourism infrastructure including for lake swimming and fantastic safe cycling most of the way round the lake, and the campsite I’m on
could not be better for me.

Definitely a place for families, and this 4-star Camping Europa, which I had understood would cost me approx 35eu per night turned out to be in the ACSI out of season scheme. So I count myself fortunate to end up here because targeted other sites cheaper than the 27eu per night scheme cost I have now happily paid for 4 nights for the pitch, 2 adults incl electricity, were all fully booked. The really spacious pitches are under the trees, with their own water supply. Every time I go into the toilet block I am impressed. Not bling, just quality with more than enough showers, sinks, toilets, washing up and laundry points etc. The swimming/splash pool for babies upwards is great for children, and there is a smaller pool just for adults. What’s needed in the heatwave. It’s about 1km from the municipal beach on the lake at St Joriaz, and we are 10kms along the for much of it road-sized cycle route to the town itself.

Everyone, all ages and types cycle up and down the lake on the flat route certainly on the west side, and  probably mostly on electric. But I did the 30 miles perimeter on the brompton, so electric is absolutely not needed here. I am seeing loads of lycra-clad females of all ages on their road bikes and in their clubs, including loads of people in their 70s & 80s, as well as using their bikes for transport or leisure.

I feel the density of population in England is a big factor in the lack of cycling provision due to the competition for space, as well as certain vested interests with an agenda to pit car against bike. But nevertheless well done to my european neighbours for their political will to take space from the car in many cases to enable cycling for transport as well as leisure. I hope my grandchildren will be able to experience the joys of this type of freer environment at least on holiday, and I can try and help make that happen.

I will be sorry to be leaving tomorrow, but looking forward to meeting up with friends and family over the next two weeks.

Posted by Jackie in France, Places, 2 comments
24
May
2026

Carcassonne, Les Trois Sorcieres and Heading North

I am now 200 miles north in Puy-En-Velay, having left Crones (term coined – affectionately? – by my ex-hubs) 2 & 3 at the airport for their return flight.  The days have of course passed so quickly, but everything ‘worked’ as we hoped and the happy times have continued, at least for me!

The heat has been increasing day by day and now most of France is enjoying or despairing of temperatures 10 – 15 degrees above normal, reaching mid thirties. It is though still cooling down in the night for good sleeping. On day 1 we enjoyed our bike ride 15km along the Canal du Midi to arrive at the square in front of the train station in the middle of ‘le Bastide’ – the medieval town which for many decades/centuries? was in competition with the fortified 13th century Cite on the hill across the river. Walking up to, and round this in the heat, followed by the bike ride back, soon reduced the usual gushing, me included, about the fantastic weather of those just arrived from the UK. But the campsite-now -become-a-holiday park with touring provision no longer – held out its jewel in the crown, the heated swimming pool. This we had more or less to ourselves after our days’ outings until Friday, so the daily schedule included this swim followed by shandies and beer served by Pierre the restaurant manager in the bar. He was very glad to have our custom and all the staff were really pleasant, preparing the site for increasing holiday traffic week by week.

We were allocated a cabin at the furthest corner of the site??, and had mostly no neighbours which enabled us to really enjoy the day’s final activity before bed – ie sitting outside on our balmy (the occupants 🤣or  sunset warmth?) decking, with the reddening sky in the distance, blasting out on the campervan’s sound system  – the mini-speaker – with our tuneful accompaniment musical memory lanes. These included Gilbert O’Sullivan, Genesis, Supertramp, Beach Boys, Doobies, David Cassidy, adding to summer classics as we returned from our outing in the van to Narbonne typified by ‘Lovely Day’. We even had a line dancing session led by Crone 3 on the next door cabin’s empty decking, but for some line-dancing purist reason she wouldn’t do it to Achy Breaky Heart.

I loved the walk through the Bastide, discovering the beautiful main square, where we had lunch on our 2nd day of visit, this time getting there by a 1-mile walk to the village of Trebes to catch a bus. After a very interesting exploration of the Cite Chateau and finding the widow’s mite in the form of Crone 2’s (Sandie’s) essential cap left behind in a shop we eventually returned to the station square dodging the sun whilst upping our pace despite la chaleur to make the timetable. Tired and hot, we waited about 15 mins for the correct bus at the drop-off stop only to be told that we needed the bus going in the other direction which was at a different stop and turned into another 15 minute wait. Our happiness at being able to get on a bus for 30 minutes rest whilst nevertheless still anticipating the 1-mile scorching trek across the fields to the cabin, was destroyed by this driver’s brusque explanation that his bus was not going to Trebes.

It was at this point, realising that a further 30 mins wait at the side of the hot busy road was required for the correct bus finally, that we quickly agreed with Sandie’s proposal of a very good deal 19eu uber ride – which she said had reduced from somewhere around 40 according to her previous research, due to uber’s price flexing. She is the expert amongst us on this. We concurred that our return journey for the day had therefore cost us 1eu on the bus journey plus about 5 for the uber. Result. Within 2 minutes along came a Tesla driven by a young man in his twenties who very early on in the journey proceeded to almost get the car stuck in a very, very narrow tunnel. The trims on the car’s very large wheels were gauged against the kerb within it and we could see on the large screen how the poor car was suffering in its position. Unfortunately the Tesla hasn’t as yet incorporated the function of making itself narrower. He said he’d done this before, but we didn’t believe him. Can you imagine the conversation between the the crones, due to age no longer constrained by social niceties and then him, in French and English, particularly as we were initially rather hyperly jubilant to climb into a car – and could it not be a Tesla next time – offering a lift door to door as it were. We did explain that no alcohol had been consumed. Having managed to actually get the car out of the tunnel, so we didn’t have to climb through a window, he then proceeded to drive in the wrong rush-hour direction down by the canal still within the town, into a dead-end little street. As we tried to say nicely that this was not what we were expecting in terms of a route to Trebes, he triumphantly pulled up in front of a gate at the end with a sign on the gatepost saying ‘La Commanderie’, …….the same name as our holiday park. All was revealed and we weren’t at least in the hands of a kidnapper. We were obviously not getting out here, and he was happy to carry on driving to our re- stated destination, so 30 mins later Sandie was paying the algorithm’s now sum total of 60eu!!! An appeal was hatched immediately as Deb & I enjoyed the swim, and literally within 10s of minutes the AI agent had agreed the original charge and promised a refund. I won’t hear a word against that AI. From the depths to the heights once again. What a day.

Friday’s trip planning quickly settled on the van’s 4 wheels to Narbonne rather than via Carcassonne for the train. Easy drive through the vineyards to the coastal lagoons. What another lovely small town, both the former and latter with population sizes of between 45 to 60k. Historic main square and medieval streets, 12th-13th century Archbishops palace and cathedral and the tree-lined Canal de la Robine running through the centre. In the afternoon we headed to the sea at Narbonne Plage, with the return journey including the really beautiful drive through the ‘La Clape’ wine area. The sand was literally already too hot to walk on barefoot, but it was great to float around abit in the clear, flat Mediterranean.

Given the distances involved and the potential to meet up with an old friend, I have decided to make my way sooner to Annecy near Geneva. The route today included the running out of scenic superlatives free A75 motorway bordering the Tarn Gorge & the west of the Cevennes, across the absolutely stunning Milau bridge from the south, up and down mountains, reaching 1200m, and then on empty minor roads across the high uplands with pastures and cattle, to the Allier valley. After 5-6 hours of driving I arrived at my 12eu per night municipal campsite right in the middle of this historic town famous amongst other monuments etc for the start of the French Camino to Spain’s Santiago de Compostela. I got the second to last pitch hallelujah.

This is such a good time to travel in France without needing to book due to the season just beginning, but already the cheaper campsites I enquired of today near Annecy are full. From Monday I will be on a 4-star pitch without an ACSI out of season reduction. Tomorrow is my exploration of Le Puy and the heatwave is set to continue.

The original joy of campervanning

 

Posted by admin in France, 0 comments
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