Peter Stenhouse’s Cycling Journal
Summer in Europe 2009

The world was set for self annihilation. In the last twelve months Russia has detonated the worlds largest nuclear weapon the Tsar of bombs, a 9 kilometer wide fireball blooming over siberia. Construction of the Berlin wall continues, and war in Vietnam has commenced. An american U2 plane flying over Cuba, spies the deployment of…

Camden,London to Ware, Hertfordshire. Monday the sixth of April Today was a great start. There were many small triumphs to confirm that I had done the right thing, by sailing out of my Camden studio, a few moments before twelve, on a crisp  morning, Monday the sixth of April. I cycled further north east than…

Ware, Hertfordshire to Coggeshall via Braintree. My second day began not knowing where Ware was. I had followed the canal too far west and had camped a little way from Ware township. A brief back track I found a roud that would lead me beneath the Stantead flightpath to Talkeley, where I could take the…

Coggeshall to Harwich ferry and the Hook of Holland It rained overnight and as my head was at the narrow end of the tent, my ear close to the fabric, the droplets sounded like  a biblical downpour. I rose expecting the worse. There was no flood, but the roads were like rivers, blinding with the…

Hook of Holland to Zandvoot My plans changed. I felt so refreshed after a full nights sleep that I choose to cycle north rather than observing a day of rest. I meet Alex and Will tow english cyclists over for easter, and we had coffee while they waited for a train to take them northward…

Zandvoot to about 20km north of Egmond und zee My situation isn’t good. It seems I have a very small window of oppourtunity to pitch my tent after night falls, and before the rain starts. In the fading light I can see the clouse and the haze of rain approaching, behind me, to the east…

Somewhere South of Den Helder to Zurich. Morning arrives like a gift, and I am grateful, for not being discovered by hordes of anti tent yobs, and more fore being dry with my belongings likewise. I pack up quick, and push my bike up the ridge, to be greeted by the sun rising over misty…

near Zurich to Wolveg via Leuwaarden No sooner had I put my tent down than it began to  spit.  a cold bitter morning, misty with a weak orange sun. All I could think of was the next town and a cafe to sit in, while the day warmed up. But its sunday, an Easter Sunday,…

Wolveg to Vierhouten I over sleep and wake to the arrival of a car near my tent. I have camped in a little clearing next to a canal side path, that has a road that leads to it.  This puts the fear in me, and I pull the tent down and am off before the…

Vierhouten to Amsterdam. I wake with the fear again, am packed and clear of the site by seven. Today is Amsterdam of bust, and I need to take into account the numerous wrong turns that I am bound to take, as I have lost my map. So all day long I relie on small town…

My time in Amsterdam was great. I is a bike-topia, judder of cobblestones aside. The streets are full of beautiful girls upright on uma fiets, gentles rises of canal bridges. I didn’t do much in Amsterdam, visit museums or sights. I got what I needed, relaxation in a beautiful place with friends old and new,…

Today, my 11th day of cycling ends early. I don’t want a repeat of last nights late campsite hunt in the night cold. The frantic search for a site even invaded my dreams. I made an early start to beat the dog walkers who might stumble upon my tent, and am now really  tired. But…

Cold day start. Stomach aches until breakfast. I cross the boarder without knowing it. this mornings porridge is in Belgium. Loose the LF2 I am following south but cycle route skip my way to Antwerp. Its a long suburban sprawl,  there are more cars here and I am forced to approach with the bulk of…

I wake refreshed, and early, and leave Kioens apartment after scrambled eggs, at about ten. There has been good news in my emails. The company will replace my deflating mattress, and Caroline is going to come in visit me somewhere in Europe. I leave well stocked too. I am given some salt, some pepper, and…

Day of rest in Gent. My rest doesn’t begin until late in the afternoon, once I had left Pieters. The morning I occupied myself with a little bike loving, and hitting a few words on my computer, tapping away at some drawings that I photographed in ta pool of sunshine on the floor. I meet…

Gent to Antoing a little south of Tournai. I leave early. and go into Gent once again, to buy a gas cannister and take breakfast. I meet Henk. At first I am startled. He rides right up to me, taking my hand and giving it a firm shake. In slurred speech he invites me for…

Antoing to a field somewhere near Rocquingy Its a fast cycling river path across the Belgium boarder into France. I pedal through a national park, bluebells carpte the forest floor, and emerge on the other side lost. I resort of bus shelter route maps to find myslef, but seem trapped for a little while on…

Headwind to reckon with. Progress is slowed to almost a standstill, by wind racing over empty hills, through still towns and war cemetrys. Breakfast amongst the rape, bright yellow, and sheltered. The wind is bitter cold. I am glad when my canal remerges from a tunnel, and I can descend into the calm of its…

The country is choked with towns, which are in turn choked with cars. At a standstill with their engines on, carrying only the driver. I can count the number of cyclists on my fingers. 135km only half of them any fun. The rest spent in a rage, at every vehicle that sped past me, or…

My time in Paris has been incredible. Thanks especially to my friends Laura and Humberto who have put up with me in their tiny flat for almost a week. Drinking at La Fourmi with friends, Fondue, the De Chirico exhibition, sitting on the beach infront of the Pompidou monstrosity, and even “romantic’ walks by the…

Day 18, the 5th of May Down and out of Paris The day dawns overcast, I am leaving Paris. I follow the coule vert, the green route, southwest from montparnasse station as far as I can before I become lost in suburban townships. The notes I took down late last night, that might make a…

Day 19, 06 of May. If yesterday left me feeling downhearted , with cold weather and bike problems, then today was cycling tourings complete redemption. A Rare act of French kindness, a cyclist who gave me a bottle of water when he saw I had none. A slight headwind to begin , but after hard…

Today was a day of undescribable beauty (though I will try anyway). The morning begain with some frustration, a wrong turn that led me to a dead end, where swans preened themselves, to get ready for the day on the river. I stopped half a dozen times before lunch to tune and tighten bits of…

Day 21, the 8th of may. As the sunsets, I am drunk.  My wineskin ruptured and so the only sensible thing to do was to drink its entire contents, rather than let a single drop of french wine be wasted on the dusty road. Unfortunately I only realised it was broken after I had replenished…