This video documents everything leading up to the first actual pedal strokes, including the packing list, the bike, route planning, background on the Netherlands, and my first day & night on the ground in Amsterdam and s-Hertogenbosch (aka, Den Bosch).
Here (in order of mention in the video) are some links you may find useful:
– Facts about The Netherlands: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands
– Provinces in The Netherlands: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_the_Netherlands
– Google Translate: https://translate.google.com
– Den Bosch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27s-Hertogenbosch
– Weather in The Netherlands: https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/country/netherlands/climate-data-historical#:~:text=The%20Netherlands%20is%20located%20in,close%20to%204°C.
– Cycling in The Netherlands: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_in_the_Netherlands
– My Drone: https://www.dji.com/air-3s
– Drone “Fly More” Kit: https://store.dji.com/product/dji-mini-3-pro-fly-more-kit
– Drone Battery Bag: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPWG6X18?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1
– Drone License and Permit Requirements in the EU: https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/light/topics/travelling-drones
– My Tent: https://www.bigagnes.com/products/copper-spur-hv-ul2-bikepack?srsltid=AfmBOopG0gn_394LxtfDI-7yOGNRwQnhIDamuOqWn0QicM5lDkwiHhV0
– My Microphone: hollyland lark m2
– My Acton Camera: https://www.dji.com/osmo-action-4
– Video Editing Software: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve
– Bicycle Rental Company: https://www.racefietstehuur.nl
– Bicycle Trailer: https://www.topeak.com/global/en/products/167-Trailers
– Route: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/287213937
– St. John’s Cathedral: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s_Cathedral_(%27s-Hertogenbosch)
– Basketball Team (Go Heroes!!): https://heroesdenbosch.com
– Carnaval in Den Bosch: https://www.iamexpat.nl/lifestyle/events-festivals-netherlands/den-bosch-carnival
My Packing List:
Travel
• Stuff to Read & Watch on Flights
• Wired headphones
• Power Brick/Bank
Camping
• Sandals
• Tent
• Sleeping Bag System
• Air Mattress
• Air Mattress Pump/Light
• Lined Stuff Sack & Puffy Jacket (Pillow)
• Rope
• Sea to Summit Big River Dry Bag, 8L
• Dry Bag for Tech
• Camp Towel: REI Co-op Multi Towel Deluxe
• Water Bladder: Nalgene 48 oz. Canteen
• Camp Soap
• JetBoil Stove
• Foldable Plate & Bowl
• Coffee
Tech
• iPhone 16 Pro Max
• QuadLock Phone Case
• iPad Pro with Keyboard
• Apple Watch Ultra
• Microphone System (Hollyland Lark C1)
• Drone System (DJI Air 3S)
• Tripod for Phone & DJI Osmo
• DJI Osma Action Camera
• AirPods Pro 2
• Charger: Mophie Speed Port GaN:
• Phone Mount: Quad Lock
• Drone Mount
• Hearing Aids
• Hearing Aid Charger
Bike/Riding (also see clothes)
• Bike Lights: Headlight & Radar Taillight
• Handlebar Bag
• Tire Pump
• Helmet
• Nuun Electrolytes (20 Servings
Clothes
• Travel and Amsterdam:
• Jeans
• Sweatshirt
• T-shirt
• Underwear
• Socks
• Shoes
• Belt
Ride/Camp
• Rain Jacket
• Rain Pants
• Short Pants (2)
• Chamois Shorts
• Socks (2 pairs for riding, 2 for camp)
• T-shirts (2 short sleeves, 2 long)
• Sandals
• Riding Shoes with Cleats
• Cap
• Riding Gloves
• Headband
• Stocking Cap
Toiletries & Personal
• Toothbrush & Toothpaste
• Medicines
• Multipurpose Liquid Soap
• Passport
• Cash – Dollars & Euros
• Credit Cards
• Real ID
• Insurance Card
Buy or Borrow in Amsterdam
• Sunscreen
• Chain oil
• Milk for coffee
• Food for Meals
• Food for Snacks
• Fuel for stove
• First Aid Kit
• Bike Repair Tools
• Bike Water Bottles
• Shoe Covers
Greetings. I’m Mark Green. This video or videos will cover my latest bike packing or bike camping, whichever you prefer, adventure. This time around 265 miles around the Netherlands. That’s about 426 km. This video will cover everything leading up to the actual ride when we started pedaling from the time I landed in Amsterdam until day one on the road. Another one or probably two will cover the actual bike packing uh that we did. I say we because I was joined by my friend Raymond Vandenhot um from the Netherlands who I met back in 2023 when we were both doing cross-country trips across the USA. We happened to be staying in the same campsite one night and we struck up a conversation, rode together for the next few days, camped together in the same campsites for the next few days. And before we parted ways, Raymond said, “Well, if you’d ever like to go bike packing around the Netherlands, let me know.” So, I did. And he was serious. He took me up on it. And so, he was my oh gosh, friend, biking companion, camping companion, translator, tour guide, uh just everything around this trip. and he was fantastic at all it was so much fun doing this with Raymond. It was a really fantastic week. It took about a week. Before I get to the actual ride, I’d like to give you a little bit of background on the Netherlands. Um my prep, my equipment, um and biking over there in general. I say the Netherlands and I hope most of you know that the Netherlands and Holland are different things. Holland, North Holland, and South Holland are provinces in the Netherlands, kind of like our states here in the United States, or counties, if you will. Um, there are 12 of them. I think we went through five on this ride, maybe six. Um, the language over there is Dutch, which sounds a little bit like Deutsch, but it’s quite different. I had five years of German in high school and college and I couldn’t understand most of what was being said over there in the Netherlands except when they were speaking in English and almost everyone speaks very very good English which is kind of shameful if you’re an American but it’s the way it is. Um and I had Raymond with me who was just an amazing uh tour guide, biking companion and um translator when needed. I also used Google Translate a couple of times and I’ll show you some examples of that once we get down into the ride and that sort of thing. Um, the weather was cool, wet, and windy as I expected in the Netherlands, but we were prepared for it. Um, I was wearing a rain jacket and rainpants and on occasion shoe covers that Raymond let me borrow and everyone over there was totally prepared for the rain. You’ll see examples of kids going to school, people shopping, um mothers riding their kids around town in the rain. It’s just what they do. Um uh it’s more on it being a little bit cool. The northernmost town that we visited was Horn, H O R N, and it’s at 52 degrees north latitude, which is about the same as Vancouver. And Vancouver is also a bit chilly. Um, I’ll be talking an awful lot about cycling and cycling infrastructure throughout this video, but here are a few facts that I thought you might find interesting. Uh, looking at my spreadsheet, the population of the Netherlands is 18 million. For you Americans, that’s somewhere between the population of Pennsylvania and New York, the state of New York and the state of Pennsylvania, twice the population of New York City. U, there are 9.4 million cars. So that’s 0.5 cars per person and 24 million bicycles. So that’s 1.3 bicycles per person. More bicycles than people. Way more bicycles than cars. When asked what their most frequent way of daily getting around might be, um 45% said car, 36% said bicycle, and 11% said public transportation. In some cities, bicycle was even higher than car. car is higher in the rural areas. The national average of all trips taken by bicycle is 27%. 38% of all trips are taken by bicycle in Amsterdam. And 46% of all trips taken are by bicycle in Sallalla. Hope I got that right. Um, and the area of the Netherlands is 16 million square miles. 16,000 square miles, excuse me, which puts it somewhere between Maryland and West Virginia in the US. Okay. I tried to pack light, but not ultra light. If you want to see the list of everything I took with me, it’s down there. I didn’t take liquids with me and things like that because I knew I could pick those up in um the Netherlands once I got there. Uh, most important equipment was my drone, my DJI Air3s. And if you’ve watched my other videos, you know that I used to use a DJI Mini 3 Pro. Um, this one’s heavier, does better in the wind, that sort of thing. There she is. Um, see if I can lower it a little bit without hitting myself. There we go. Um, that white thing on the side and it’s avoiding obstacles, which it does. Uh, that thing on the side is its license for flying here in the United States. That white thing. And if I turn it around, which I should be able to do with this. There we go. There’s the back of it. Lots of lights on it, so you can see it at night, whatever. And on the other side is another white label. That’s the permit for flying in the European Union. Um, that’s a lot. Enough of that noise. Let me land the thing and tell you a little bit more about it. Here she is without all the racket. DJI Air3s. It’s only been out for a few months. Um, I hope you can see by the size of my hand. It’s about the size of one of those big beer cans you would get in Australia or something with your Fosters in it. Bigger than an American beer can. Um, but I got the bigger one because it’s more stable in the air. It’s got a longer flight time. And this one has two cameras. My DJI Minis only had one camera. And up here for flying at night, we’ve even got lidar. It’s got obstacle avoidance sensors all over it. So, it’s very good at avoiding things if you have it in the right mode. Um, and to control it, I have this guy. This is the controller. And you can see as I move the drone what it’s seeing. There we go. Um, and that was attached to the um, handlebar bag on my bike. And I’ll show you that and how I had it attached at some point later in one of the videos when I actually show you some of the drone footage. So, um, just under two pounds, which is why it required more licensing. Um, but I really like this thing. It did me did a great job and it’s done a good job for me in other things as well. DJI Air3s. There you go. I took the still pictures either on the drone or with the camera that I’m using right now on my iPhone 16 Pro um Max. Raymond also had a fairly recent iPhone and took a lot of pictures with that and you’ll be seeing those as well. I did not use a separate microphone. Um I am using a separate one now, the Lark M2 by Hollyland. Um which is this is the microphone. Um, but I just use the mic built into the iPhone for everything else. Um, speaking of the drone, I had to get a license for myself and I had to get a license or permit for the drone. I had to increase my liability insurance because a million euros of liability insurance is required for drones of this size over there. It was quite painful. Um, finding any sites in English that would help me get my license and get my um, permit was frustrating because of the language. Uh, I finally worked it out. I did it by trial and error, so I’m afraid I can’t tell you exactly how I did it. But here, looking rather battered because they were hauled around the Netherlands in the rain for a week. Uh, are the actual permit. And here’s the license. And here’s my liability insurance thing that I took with me as well. Um, so I did get licensed. I’m now licensed for a full year in the European Union with this bike. Yay. Uh, as long as I don’t fly over big groups of people and stuff like that. I took a FlyMore kit from DJI with me that included three batteries each with about a 45minut um, flight time. I also built bought a special little bag to hold the batteries. Um, some airlines require that you have big batteries in something like this in case the lithium battery catches on fire. They don’t want it spreading. So, I had to show people that as I went through TSA and the European equivalent. Um, the pictures you’ll see, the videos you’ll see, no filters, no color correction. This is all straight out of my phone or straight out of the um drone drone or phone. Oh, I almost forgot. I also used the DJI equivalent of a uh GoPro, their Osmo. So, here’s a picture of that. Um, and I did a lot of the video from on top of my helmet using that as well as some still pictures. Um, I’ll try to mention that a couple times so you know what you’re looking at. Most of my camping equipment was the same that I described in excruciating detail prior to my trip across the United States in 2023, which is where I met Raymond. Um, my biggest gear change this year was the retirement of my beloved tent I’d had for so many years and making a significant upgrade to this Big Agnes Copper Spur HVL2. This is a bike packing edition, which means it has little things like a strap to hold a helmet, but more important, it has poles that fold up shorter than regular tent poles, so they can fit in a small place on a bike, like on the handlebars. In addition to this pick, you’ll see more shots of that in the next video. To minimize my weight on the airlines, Raymond supplied some of the equipment like the stove and things like that, water bottles, um, just so I didn’t have to haul everything and because some things can’t be taken on airplanes. He did a lot of research for me to help me pick a bicycle to rent over there. I at one point said, “Should I bring my road bike or should I bring my tour bike with me?” And he said, “In nicer terms, we’ve got plenty of bicycles over here in the Netherlands. will get a good one you can rent. And sure enough, he did. Um Thomas at this company set me up with a just wonderful bicycle. Took me a little while to get used to mechanical shifting again because I’ve been using e electronic shifting on um both of my bikes for a long time, but it worked great. Never had any real problems, disc brakes, as I would have expected. Um because of a bit of miscommunications, the bike was not set up for paneers or saddle bags. H. So when I got there, Thomas looked around and said, “Then you’ll use this trailer.” And I’ve never used a trailer before. So I was more than a little put off by that, but he attached it to the bicycle, had me take a couple spins around the parking lot, and I was, “Wow, I can’t even tell this thing’s back there.” It wasn’t loaded yet, but still, it was incredibly lightweight. And it being on one wheel in line with the two wheels on the bicycle, I thought it was going to be very unstable. Not at all. Um, I carried probably more weight than I would have carried in my paneers and I never minded it at all. There were a couple times when I was a little self-conscious about how far it was going behind the bike and afraid that somebody crossing behind me might hit it, but that was a minor concern. And most of the time I was riding, I wasn’t even aware it was back there. Now, there are very few hills in the Netherlands. Um, so it wasn’t like I was climbing this thing up mountains all the time. But I would have probably been carrying about the same weight in my paneers if I’d had those. And this thing weighed very little and the wheel had almost no rolling resistance. So I used a trailer for the first time and it worked out great. I’m not sure if I would deliberately do it again, but I no problem. I’m happy I did it. Um, here I am setting up my bike and getting it fitted by Thomas there at his store. Um, we had a plan of an initial route. Um, and it looked great. I loaded it onto my iPhone and ride with GPS, the software that I use, and which works just as good in Europe as it does in the US. But as with the trip across the US, um, we decided to wing it every day. We didn’t know how far we were going to go. we would just get maybe past lunch and then start looking around for a campsite. This was a holiday weekend um in the Netherlands celebrating the ascension. Uh but we never we Raymond never had any trouble finding a good campsite for us and the campsites were wonderful and you’ll see pictures of all those. Um so uh here’s the complete route that we took. Um, I I’ll talk about all the stages of the seven days of riding, but it was a loop of about 270 miles around the Netherlands, including crossing over one big dyke, uh, which kind of separated us from the North Sea. I’ll explain that as we get more on, but um, the the campsites were great. Uh, the route was chosen every day. The campsites were chosen every day, and we had no problems with that. So, my adventure really began when I arrived at Skipipole airport in Amsterdam. Wonderful airport. I’d been there several times for pleasure and business many years ago, but it hadn’t changed a lot. And uh Raymond and I pretty quickly found each other and got in his car and headed actually in his dad’s car, which had a little bit more room. We would need it. Um and then we headed north to his town. Uh I’ll get to pronouncing that in a minute. Um, we stopped on the way and picked up my bicycle and had it fitted. And then we were off to Denbos, which people call it for short. And here’s the actual name. Here’s how it’s pronounced. And Raymond explained to me how to pronounce it a few times and I never got it right. So, we’ll just call it Denbos going forward. Um, which means the forest of the Duke in Dutch. Um, it’s an old town. It was founded around 1161 AD. And I’m going to give you a little bit of history now because I find it just really fascinating. I’ve got to get back to this town and spend at least a couple more days exploring it. Really cool place. Um until 1520 it was the second biggest town in what is now the Netherlands after Utre. So an important place. Um a lot of rich history. I won’t get into all of it, but things like it was one of the very few places in the Netherlands that was not pretty much destroyed during World War II. And it’s hypothesized that this was probably because there was a Nazi uh concentration camp just outside of town. Um lots of historical preservation still. When I get back, I’ve got to do the tour under the city. There’s a canal that goes under the town that you can tour. Lots of neat stuff to do. Um we wandered around town uh in the rain largely. And uh stopped and had uh lunch, I guess it was. And this was my first first exposure to the local beer. Very good. and um Google Translate, which I used a few times during the trip. Didn’t really need to because I had Raymond with me, but it was fun and the technology just amazing and I love all things artificial intelligence. And boy, this is it. Here’s an example of uh a menu and then holding my phone up to it and instantly you see the translation on the phone. I also did it to uh the label of one of the local beers, which Raymond said would be interesting. So, I did and it was. He said, “This isn’t the only translation of that um label, but interesting. Um the town is kind of centered around St. John’s Cathedral um which has a great history in itself. Built around 1220 and for the next 300 years, it was rebuilt, burned down, rebuilt, um constructed into its present form in about five 1584 AD. Um got to get over there sometime. This is from my drone which I took off from Raymond’s balcony and flew in that direction and then kind of zoomed in from there. But looks like a really cool place and if you Google it, you’ll see some really neat pictures of the inside. Um, cool church. Um, so my main objective that day was to stay awake, to get on local time. So when we finally got to his apartment, I unpacked, spread my stuff all over his, um, office area, um, which he was nice enough to let me use and kind of get my stuff organized. And then Raymond and his parents and brother and girlfriend and her two sons took me to a local professional basketball game, Denbos Heroes, which sounds like an English word. And sure enough, around the arena, there was lots and lots of stuff in English. The cheerleaders were just like American cheerleaders at the college and professional level. The team was good. They had a couple of Americans on it. One of whom my son Thomas was actually familiar with because they both went to George Mason University. They won and then Raymond let me know um about a week or so later that they went on to win the championship. So, go Heroes. Um did stay awake. Uh oh, one other thing about the town. Um here I am standing in the rain in front of a little shop that specializes in carnival um clothing memorabilia stuff I guess which has been a big tradition there since the late 1800s. Carnival in the Netherlands. Who knew? But it is. and Ellen, I especially expect you will appreciate this. Um anyway, then we got up on Sunday morning. We headed out to do some grocery shopping. Um got all kinds of cool stuff to eat for the next couple of days. Headed back to his apartment, got on the bikes, and that’s where the next video will start, the actual riding camping adventure in the Netherlands. See you then.