I Cycled Around the Netherlands…again

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0:00 Netherlands bike trip
0:32 Netherlands by Bike 2024
1:05 The plan
1:50 Amsterdam
2:03 Where to rent a bike in Amsterdam
4:21 The Nescio Bridge
4:55 Sports Park, so many bakfiets
5:46 Muiderslot
6:16 Stelling Van Amsterdam
7:00 Fort aan den Ham
8:51 Aqueduct
9:38 E-bike FTW
9:56 Muiderberg
10:12 Hollandse Brug
10:36 Flevoland
11:03 Dutch Traffic light
12:02 Almere Stad

it’s been a year but I am back in the 
Netherlands and last time I set out for the better part of a week to see what 
the country had to offer be that cycling infrastructure history or even the food while 
my last trip was a success I still felt like there was a lot more that I had to see so I 
returned for two more weeks in the Netherlands [Music] just 11 months ago I was here eager to 
explore this beautiful country on a bike i spent 6 days riding over 350 km which saw me through 
much of Randstad that’s the area including the provinces of South Holland Utrecht and parts 
of North Holland and Flevoland it’s where the majority of the Dutch population lives and where 
you’ll find Amsterdam the Hague Rotterdam and of course the city of Utrecht i learned a lot about 
the way Dutch cities are designed the way the landscape mostly stays the same and how truly 
wonderful it is getting around everywhere on a bike but of course there is still so much more 
to experience so for this trip my intention is to knock off all other provinces from my passport 
there are 12 in total three of which I visited last year during my bike trip and Zeeland which I 
also visited with some friends a few weeks later that leaves Freisland Groningen Drenthe 
Overijssell Flevoland Gelderland North Brabant and Limburg so compared to last year this is going to 
be a much bigger trip oh by the way if you haven’t seen any of my previous trip don’t worry every 
video can be watched individually there are no prerequisites but without further ado this is 
day one of the Netherlands by Bike the sequel my trip begins in Amsterdam and last year I went 
west to Harlem but this time I am instead heading east with the day’s final destination being Almere 
but I will be stopping at a few places along the way but first thing is first I’m going to need 
wheels considering that one of the most common questions I got from my last trip was where did I 
rent my bike might as well hit two birds with one stone the answer is a bike rental and tours who 
have graciously offered me a bike for this trip they have multiple locations in Amsterdam 
but I am going to their shop located at the edge of Vondel Park because I’ve heard this is 
where they have the most stock to get there I was able to take a very convenient bus from 
Schiphol which is also a great time to point out that even here in the Netherlands there are 
a lot of cars once I arrived at the bike shop I had to make a choice and if you’re a novice you 
might be overwhelmed with which bike to choose but it’s actually pretty simple for cruising 
around town a city bike will do the trick riding between cities like me a touring bike 
will be your best bet as the extra gears make it more versatile for the rare times you find 
hills or the much more common Dutch hill wind it also has suspension for which your ASP 
will thank you for at the end of long days but if you really want to go bougie or perhaps 
you’re on a trip nearing 2 weeks averaging 60 to 80 km a day you should consider the ebike 
it’s much like the touring bike but offers a 25 km per hour boost and will take you up to 120 
km on a single charge considering I said this at the end of my last trip while I have nothing to 
truly regret if I were to do another trip in the Netherlands I would take an ebike yeah I’d take an 
ebike you can also rent saddle bags or do what I did bring your own and in a few minutes you’ll 
be cruising the streets of Amsterdam [Music] i don’t think I’ve ever seen that many bikes 
riding around Amsterdam that was insane and I just was so excited i wanted to just like do a 
Rick Flare woo there’s people around but I I have to let it out i have to let out woo hopefully I 
didn’t scare anybody i feel better even watching this video back just just ridiculous this is rush 
hour which wasn’t my plan to be here at this time my flight was delayed by 4 hours so this was a bit 
of a happy accident and while I was glad to see these streets at peak times I still had to get to 
Almere which was only 35 km away but nevertheless I had to get a move on i quickly came across 
my first piece of infrastructure to highlight this is an award-winning bridge which spans the 
Amsterdam Rhine Canal and it is one of the longest ped cycling bridges in the Netherlands at 780 
meters long it’s really windy i’m having to hold my hat on my head cuz I’m going to lose it it’s 
going to be gone into the canal you don’t want that this really set the tone for the whole trip i 
thought it’s just windy today i’ll get a mix which I did get but the mix was only the direction of 
wind I’d be dealing with every day this here’s a sports park i think they’re playing field hockey 
and uh this is something you don’t see at all in North America obviously like the amount of bikes 
here is just unbelievable but as far as like a sports park goes what comes to my mind is soccer 
fields a hockey rink and giant parking lots filled with cars but wouldn’t you know people be like 
“Ah you can’t play ice hockey without you need a car to bring all your equipment.” Well wouldn’t 
you know there’s a bike has a bucket on the front that’s the size of a hockey bag pretty cool huh 
as I continued I got to appreciate the landscape wildlife and even the housing what’s been shocking 
to me already is just how new everything feels because it is i haven’t been here before i was 
in Amsterdam I’ve been there many times but as soon as I went east never been here and already 
look at that there’s a castle this is Mo it’s only 15 km from the middle of Amsterdam making 
it a great choice for a day trip built in 1370 it is one of the oldest castles in the Netherlands 
today it is a national museum open to the public which has been restored to its 17th century glory 
and it’s almost like stepping into a time machine the garden out front is uh it’s pretty nice too 
sadly my late start to the day foiled my plans for getting inside but that just meant I had to 
ogle a different piece of history nearby so this is probably one of the coolest things I learned 
in quite a while so somebody commented on one of my videos they told me to check this out which 
is Stelling Van Amsterdam the defense line of Amsterdam was constructed between 1880 and 1920 
and consists of 46 fortifications stretching 135 km around the city of Amsterdam most have this 
trapezoid shape however there are many more to be found including Fortieland Pampus visible 
from here but only reachable by boat but they are so common that you may go by one and not even 
realize it like I did on the first day of my trip last year some of the forts are closed completely 
some have been retrofitted for different uses and many are museums run by volunteers like Fort aan 
den Ham northwest of Amsterdam here the volunteers graciously took me on a tour when it was supposed 
to be closed for the day now when you typically think of using nature or the natural surroundings 
to make a defense you think of maybe during World War II for example in Normandy they use the bluffs 
to create defensive positions for people who are storming the beaches now the Netherlands doesn’t 
have that for the most part it’s very very flat so they use what they have they use that flatness and 
they use their expertise when it comes to managing water to create a defense network and that is 
Stelling Van Amsterdam what makes this defensive network so unique is the fact that it’s activated 
by inundating the lowlands with 12 in of water too shallow for boats and a mess to trudge through on 
foot which would funnel the advancing army into the line of fire from these strategically placed 
forts each was fit for survival hosting everything a soldier needs rainwater collection kitchens mess 
bunks and even laundry unfortunately by the time Stelling Van Amsterdam was ready for action it was 
rendered obsolete by the invention of the airplane it was partially inundated during the Second 
World War but the Dutch capitulated before the Germans reached it after uh we surrendered to the 
Germans they took over this fort and they wanted to use the old cannons for their weapon industry 
so they melted the steel and they used it for to build tanks or something like that but they blew 
up the foundation and they didn’t figure out that it was French concrete it’s not armored concrete 
so they blew up the first foundation and the first parts of this concrete flew across the fortress to 
the other side of the road oh my god they said “Oh wow we used too much explosives.” Thanks again to 
the volunteers at Fort aan den Ham before leaving Muiden I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spot 
this canal bridge or tunnel underpass what do you even call this aqueduct either way it is just so 
Dutch similar to the one across the Velowemeer which unfortunately I didn’t actually get a chance 
to see continuing east I did my best to just take in the experience it’s too nice god it’s too nice 
this is ridiculous it’s not fair as you can see the sun is beginning to set behind me I’ve only 
been in the Netherlands for maybe two two and a half hours maybe almost 3 hours now I’ve had a 
lot of fun checking out those defenses but uh I need to get to my destination which is Almere and 
from where I am right now it looks like it’ll be about 45 minutes the ebike had already been a game 
changer even with the wind I still had plenty of battery left after 25 km of riding I’ve got some 
days that are going to be reaching just around 90 km on just the travel in between the cities alone 
so we’re going to really put this bike to the test i passed through Muiderberg a lovely little 
town on the water where you could really see how windy it was holy [ __ ] look at all the kite 
surfers holy oh my god there’s so many and also a glimpse of my destination i eventually made it to 
the Dutch bridge and yes that is its name where I passed my first milestone about to lose my hat 
again but it’s really loud here here we go we’re about to cross into our first new province did 
you feel it we are now in Flavourland is that what it is i don’t remember Flevoland is the newest 
province in the Netherlands officially established in 1986 nearly all of it sits on land reclaimed 
from the sea in the 1950s and60s in what used to be the Zuiderzee now the freshwater IJsselmeer 
making it one of the boldest feats of engineering in Dutch history it is the smallest province by 
land area but home to nearly half a million people Lelystad is the capital but the more populous 
Almere is my destination and after crossing the bridge I encountered one of my all-time favorite 
features of the Dutch traffic system look at that it changed did I catch that it I hit the thing i 
hit the thing and it changed so cool so cool love it and not just for the convenience on a bike this 
is better for everyone people get caught up in the debates about whether or not you’re breaking the 
law if you run a red light when no one else is around when we really should be questioning why 
you have a red light to wait at in the first place take note north American cities this is beautiful 
like this is so lovely i love going through nature i love the the winding paths it feels like 
you’re kind of getting lost in the woods a bit but the thing is it’s not the most direct 
route to Almere that’s what I’m finding here it is very convoluted compared to if you were in a 
car much less distance needed to travel i would later eat my words but after passing under Highway 
A6 I made my way to the center of Almere where I sniffed out something familiar there was a smell 
that most Dutch cities have i don’t know what it is i don’t know if it’s fast food restaurant some 
kind of restaurant or something like that but they it just hit me now as I got to the center of 
Almere and it it just brought me back so I haven’t eaten anything since I was on the plane which was 
just a cheese sandwich it was very lovely it was nice it was nice but uh it didn’t hit the spot 
you guys know what I want you guys know what I’m craving it’s not McDonald’s what I’m craving is 
frikandelbrodje we don’t have that in Canada so I need to find me an Albert Heijn at least sadly 
no pastries were to be found so I settled for some fries at a local burger shop before getting 
some much needed sleep in anticipation for day two