I rode a Bike in the Netherlands and This is What Happened

Finally, for the first time, I’m riding down a bicycle path along the coast of Zeeland, a province of the Netherlands. Bike lanes are everywhere, but is the ride really as good as they say it is?
The path brings me to the little town of Westkapelle, where we discover two distinctly different old lighthouses and an old army tank from World War Two, and more.
Discover what the riding a bike on Dutch pathways is really like!
Would you like to ride your bike in this part of Europe? Leave me a comment and share the video with your cycling friends!

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Additional media:
Benoît DE HAAS, from pixabay.com

Music: Funk It by Dyalla

[Music] Yeah. [Music] Is it worth it? [Music] So, I’m finally on the bike in Holland on the bike path. It’s it feels safe here because uh it’s there there’s pretty much no way that I could end up somewhere where there is no bike path. They don’t end in a nothing place. So, it’s kind of good. I just uh it’s a different bike than I normally ride. But I think I’m right now on the way to the beach. Just passing a hotel, Fletcher Hotels. Anyways, I’m just exploring. It’s It’s a pleasure riding here. [Music] So, I made a turn. This goes parallel to the coast here. Uh the bike path. I don’t know how far. I don’t know where this goes, but uh to my left there’s a dyke. It’s like a dune or something. I mean, the land is lower than the sea. So, this is the biggest hill in the whole area here to my left because behind that is the beach. There’s more traffic as you can see. F feet pad. So, as I found out, feeds bicycle and I’m assuming that pad means path. Bicycle path. It’s a good one. Look at it. There’s cow poop on it, too. Or it’s probably horse manure because I’m thinking the horses also come by here. We’ve seen them on the beach. Good thing they didn’t poop there, though. Going uphill here. I do have a sevenspeed on this bike. Yeah, but it’s a hub. It’s an internal hub shifter. And wow, is this nice. Totally different environment than I’m used to. And there’s some wind protection here because of the bushes, but I could still feel the wind quite uh intense. If you’re wondering what these plants are that are on both sides, they are buckthornne berries and they’re edible and they’re delicious. They got these yellow, orange berries on, another hill. Another uh missed the shift. So, behind me, you could probably see the steps. It goes right over this hill to the beach. And it’s beautiful. It’s all along here. But uh for now, I’m just going to ride a little bit and when I find something really interesting, I’ll let you know. I mean, you can you’ve seen the bike path. Uh, apparently they’re everywhere. So, guys, in case you didn’t get a close look, the orange berries in the background, they are buckthornne. They’re very high in vitamin C and so are these rose hips. They’re also really good. Now, what I’m interested in, there’s a little I don’t know if that’s a reservoir or it’s a natural pond or a lake, but see on the other side of it, you can see the condos and then you can see that tower. It’s probably really small in my picture because of uh the distance and the wide angle, but we’re going to go there. So, I got to go around this pond and then you’ll see Now this is the real deal. 10 to 17:00. Oo, it’s windy here. Well, let’s go around. It’s a nice park here. This is a lighthouse and it’s um West Capel or something like that at the town. Unfortunately, I was too late to go up there, but they let people up there during the day and it’s 350 to get up there. So, uh that’s what I’m have to do. Maybe tomorrow maybe I could get Barbara to come or maybe everybody’s going to come because that looks like quite the adventure to go up there. there. I mean, how imagine how far you can see. This is an old lighthouse, guys. Uh, let’s see if we can find out how old this actually is. The lighthouse, nicknamed West Capel Hoo, was once the church tower of the St. Willie Bordros Church. It was originally built in 1470. In 1831, most of the church was destroyed by a fire, but the tower was spared. In 1907, it was converted into a lighthouse. The tower consists of six floors and is 53 m high. You have to climb 27 steps to get to the top. So, it’s uh entry fee is 350 and bad weather. It’s closed or something uh only limited. So, I’ll have to go back here another day because it’s too late. lost off [Music] Christian. [Music] So, yeah, I was a little bit disappointed about not being able to go on top of that lighthouse, but you know what? The ride across this little town was interesting enough by itself. I mean, just take a look around. All the houses are red brick and so is even the pavement. This way. Yeah, there’s a store. I don’t know what it is. It’s probably a oneway. Holy. See, I like that. [Music] And by the way, I had another mission. I went to the store to buy a bread. Well, not just any bread. A good whole grain bread made in Holland. Should be good stuff. Then I discovered the local bicycle shop. I mean, look at their offerings. You notice it looks different from North American bike shops. Big shop here. Thanks to the dyke, which is really the only hill anywhere in sight, I always knew where the beach was right behind there. So, I decided to go a little bit further along the trail that follows the beach. [Music] So guys, I’m going to turn around here. I don’t know how much you can hear because the wind is very strong here, but it’s definitely worth uh showing you this. I’m going to ride by a beautiful lighthouse momentarily here. And actually, I’m going to stop here, get a shot of it from down below, cuz this is something else. So, I know that if I ride along the coast here, I know that I’ll get back to where I came from, it’s very easy. There’s no getting lost except uh I’m not sure how far this pathway goes that is right down by the water and what is basically the beach now. I mean, there’s cars driving here. You’ll just see one coming up. Uh but other than that, you know, even they don’t uh really go fast or anything. So I think they have a little bit more respect for cyclists than we’re used to in Canada. Anyways, going to turn around here cuz I want to get to this lighthouse a little closer so I could make a few photos for my uh yeah, for my Instagram. I do Instagram now, guys. I’ll leave a link in the description because who knows, you might want to follow me there. So far, I always just posted Jeez, the wind uh links to my videos, but maybe I’m going to do a little more now. Coming up on this amazing lighthouse now. I have to shoot some photos here, that’s for damn sure. I mean, this is my chance, you know. I won’t be here for long. And there’s a car headed for me. But it’s fine. I got a kickstand even on a bike. And look at this. It’s the ocean, guys. Got to have light. So, guys, here I am at the lighthouse. That’s like whatever lighthouse this is. I got to find a spot here where I’m not like right in the wind so you can even hear me. But if I turn the camera up, you see what this looks like. Pretty neat, doesn’t it? Now, what is the beach here? It’s actually paved over. And I’m assuming that is because they don’t want it to be swept away. Oh, wow. There’s a big ship coming. [Music] I can vig. Well, guys, thanks to speaking a little German, a little English, I kind of know that this is uh closed to motor vehicles, but there’s an exception for bicycles. Now, I don’t know how far this will go. There’s some people heading down the the embankment coming down to this bike lane. Uh, the smooth pavement is about to end here, but it’s still paved. So, I’m thinking I could just stay here and keep riding and it won’t be too bad. Yeah. So far, so nice. I mean, look at this. I’m riding right along the ocean and up there on on the uh the dyke the wind is extreme, but down here it’s tolerable. So, we’re going to stay down here as long as we can and then we’ll see. Guys, British Liberation Army. This tank was fully restored in 2021 as parked here as a memorial. I guess I think it’s sad that we’re fighting wars and um I know that the Second World War was important that Germany got defeated, but you know, I have mixed feelings about this. I wish there was no more war. So, since the wind here isn’t so bad, I’m going to go through this bicycle really quick. See what I have here is a grip shifter. Starting with the drivetrain. Well, it’s got a seven-speed hub here. Uh, it’s got this thing that’s going to keep the hub really clean. See? Uh, that’s why it’s so shiny. Uh, the tension off the chain is permanently adjusted with the dropouts. So, right now, it is pretty good. There’s also a partial chain guard, which I like, but I don’t think this would cut it in Canada because we just have too much ice and snow. The chain would get messed up here. Uh, the brakes are hydraulic brakes as you can see. Magura got the same thing in the front. Excellent. This hub is a generator hub. So, that’s where the light, the power for the light comes from. There’s a switch somewhere and I believe it’s on the light. So, it’s quite neat to have a system like that. Brake handles are uh somewhat Yeah, you have to get used to the position. I believe it’s an aluminum frame, heat treated aluminum. The bike is made by Pujo. It’s got a pretty standard saddle. There’s a a light secured here with the zip tie. So, I’m assuming that the tail light is either not hooked up to this wire. Yeah, it’s hooked up here, but maybe it’s not functional. This bike’s my nephew’s. I really like this solid rack that it has in the back. And I believe it came with those fenders already. And uh what kind of tires are these? 700 by 38. And it’s got Dunlop valves. nice aluminum pedals. Like there’s nothing cheap on it. It’s all quality stuff. So I I’m quite happy, feel privileged be allowed to ride this for a few days. This bike originally was my dad’s. So when he got tired of stepping over the top tube, then he passed it on to my nephew and that’s whose bike it is now. Did you enjoy this video? You can support the creator by hitting the like button and leaving a comment.