Windmills, boats and bikes in the Netherlands

After a relaxing month narrow boating around northern England and Wales, the Taylors now hit their European leg. If you’d like to see exactly where we are please click on the map above. You can zoom in and hover on the points.

On 25th July, we farewelled England from Hull and hopped an overnight vehicle ferry to Rotterdam. In all, we would spend six days in the Netherlands.

Water, water, everywhere. First off, the World Heritage Kinderdijk windmills, where the kids learned how the Dutch manage water aided by an awesome interactive windmill game, reinforcing the principles of what they were seeing at scale. Our AirBNB was next to water too. Each town we passed through had a canal, and private houses were surrounded by moats and the roads to get around were raised on bunds or dijks as the Dutch say.

In Amsterdam itself, we decided not to tour the Rijksmuseum, home of the works by Dutch masters Rembrandt and Van Gogh, as Matt and I had been before. Instead, we took a vote. Matt toured the Dutch Resistance Museum, while the kids chose the NEMO Science Museum. It was hands down, the best science museum I’ve ever been to, fully interactive and the hourly chain reaction demonstration which takes up the three-level atrium is fun for grown up kids too.

We ate Dutch pancakes, toured the canals on a glass roofed boat, and rode around Amsterdam like locals. I was slightly worried about the traffic and the rules, but cycling around the city was fantastic especially as there are dedicated cycle lanes. Alec (he’s only 8) was super aware and even saw amber lights before Matt or I. It was a hot day, so it was far more enjoyable with a breeze whipping past than walking, as we would experience on our return visit.

Our accommodation was 40 mins south of Amsterdam in a rural part of the Netherlands. Quite by accident we found out that many Dutch holidaymakers come here to explore the immense wetlands, channels and lakes of Nieuwkoopse Plassen by boat, SUP and kayak. It was a real highlight to rent kayaks and explore a piece of this waterlogged country and the flora and fauna that live there.

Our final stop in the Netherlands was Arnhem, where the allies failed to secure the key bridge as part of Operation Market Garden in September 1944. This particular place and battle is immortalised in one of Matt’s favourite movies "A Bridge Too Far". At the museum, a kind ex-soldier dressed Lewis as a British paratrooper and, encouraged by Lewis, went through every bit of his kit bag.

A few final thoughts… we were in absolute awe at the Dutch approach to waste management and recycling. In our AirBNB, there were five different bins, which meant that our landfill waste dropped to less than 10% of our total waste. Even at the Science Museum, our lunch meals were served on reusable plates with real cutlery and soft drinks came in reusable glass bottles. The only waste sent to landfill afterwards were two tiny paper condiment cups. Australia has such a painfully long way to go.

The Dutch transport system and cycle priority is also next level, extending from city into rural areas. From vast cycle racks at train stations, to ramps and dedicated train carriages, cycling is so impressively integrated it’s no wonder we saw as many fit silver-haired cyclists as we saw professionals and families.

In the next blog, I’ll share some of our favourite tales as we travel south through Germany. Hope everyone back home is well.