Winterday Ride in Netherlands

Yesterday I went on a Winterday ride with Cloggy in Thulst. I had to go on my winterbike (FJ600) as my FZ6 is in winter storage, the others drive year round on their FZ6s. It was a clear chilly (4 dgr. celcius) day. As I was traveling back home from Germany in the morning I met up with the guys at a restaurant near Arnhem. Cloggy and Thulst already met up in the Morning at Thulst's place and did a nice route to our meeting point. Ofcourse I took the opportunity to find a Geocache that was close. After a nice cup of coffee we set out for our ride, in the east part of our little country. Cloggy led the way using his Zummo GPS. It was a really nice route, nice bendy roads in wooded area, interleaved with rivers with nice little dike roads, and some nice views of the low sun shining through some high clouds. And just enough traffic lights to warm my hands every now and then by holding the engine At some point we entered the old Hanse city Deventer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia where we had some food and more warm coffee. After that we continued the nice road into the area called Achterhoek. Just as the darkness set in we reached the oldest city in the country: Nijmegen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Thulst knows this city very well and let us to a nice place for some food. After that we set off to get home. Cloggy initially had some problem with his tailllight failing, but that was resolved by a quick reset. I joined him till I had to exit the freeway. We really enjoyed our, most likely, last ride of the year.

Pictures taken in Deventer:
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The winter has started, a nice time of the year to go out riding with friends. Thanks Martin and Andre for a very nice tour yesterday.

I am looking forward to the next one.

Looks like you all had a great time.....neat looking place in the pictures. Thanks for sharing!:thumbup:

Thanks Andre and Ton for a great day, it was great to blow away the cobwebs :thumbup:
Great pics Andre, I didn't think to take my camera.

Left my place yesterday at just before 0830 (it was about 1 degree celcius brrr) I had planned to leave ½ hour earlier but the bed magnet wouldn’t release me from its evil grip

I rode the first bit along the motorway but later I turned my Zumo on to give me directions.
After following directions on my Zumo for a while I realized I had it set for shortest route (and not quickest), but this is not always a bad thing as it took me down a nice country road to a ferry crossing point. Here I had to wait about 10 mins as the shuttle boat had just left my side of the river. It was a glorious day (despite being cold) and I rather enjoyed my wait, with a great view over the river. I took the boat (I was the only person on board) and crossed into the county (province) of Brabant.
I met up with Ton at his place (in OSS) at about 10 O clock and although I have heated grips I still enjoyed a couple of cups of coffee to warm up again. After a bit of a chat we left Tons place about 10.40 (after he had removed the frost from his bike ).
I had planned a circular route starting at Tons house in Oss, going to Deventer and ending back in Nijmegen.
Ton and I left Oss and took another shuttle ferry across the river (this way we could use the nice country roads instead of riding the more boring roads across the main bridges). We headed firstly towards Nijmegen, it was dry and bright and very light winds so it was a great ride on this windy dike road.
Heading towards Arnhem we decided to jump onto a stretch of highway to make sure we would make our rendezvous with Andre (unseen)
Despite having stayed in Dusseldorf (Germany) the night previous, Andre was up for a nice ride so we arranged to meet up about 12.15. :rockon:
We met Andre at a roadside restaurant on the outskirts of Arnhem and chatted whilst having a coffee and an apple pie. Andre is presently riding his FJ 600 winter bike, his FZ6 has been put away until it’s better weather again.

Our next stretch was through the hoge veluwe national park, a mainly wooded area with a few patches of heathland, and a few gentle hills, (not so common in Holland). We rode on to Deventer (a picturesque town) where we stopped for lunch.
After lunch we headed down to Nijmegen, just skirting along the German border, there were some nice dike roads and we took another shuttle ferry to get there.
In Nijmegen we went for a meal in a nice restaurant down by the river, when we arrived it was quite quiet but it turned out to be very popular with the local students as it soon filled up.
After our meal Andre and I said our goodbyes to Ton as we were heading back on the motorway.
A short while after riding Andre told me that my back light wasn’t working, so he followed me on the motorway until there was a suitable service station to stop. Anyway my indicators weren’t working either, even though my headlights were, turns out the key wasn’t turned quite far enough in the ignition.
I waved goodbye to Andre as he left the highway near his house, I still had another hour to go to get back home.
On the way back I passed 3 gritters (on my side of the road), and got nicely salt blasted.
By the time I reached home the temperature was sub zero (celcius), and despite having heated grips I was pretty cold, but it was well worth it for a great days ride.
Ton & Andre thanks for the company, I had a great day.
Ton it seems like your wrist is getting better after the operation, I really hope you didn’t over stress it on the ride, if not you should be clocking up those kilometres in no time :thumbup:.
Andre kudos to you for keeping up with us on your “winter” bike :rockon:.

Nice write up and pics :thumbup: .

Nice Pics!

I liked the Netherlands a lot. I visited Amsterdam several weeks ago and it was getting very chilly in the evenings. I'm surprised it's not snowing yet.

which restaurant in nijmegen did you go to?? I put my fz6 in winter storage already lol..

nimzotech said:

Nice Pics!

I liked the Netherlands a lot. I visited Amsterdam several weeks ago and it was getting very chilly in the evenings. I'm surprised it's not snowing yet.

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well it's getting a bit cooler now, but it's still dry, they are talking about probable snow midweek.

Drinky said:

which restaurant in nijmegen did you go to?? I put my fz6 in winter storage already lol..

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Tim, I'm not sure it was a bit of a "mellow lounge" type cafe, it had student rates as well as good food, Ton will probably know the name. Next time we're in Nijmegen I will definately give you a buzz, but we weren't sure where we would be eating, but luckily the other guys held up very well considering the cold weather so we made it all the way back to Nijmegen :thumbup:.

I had read that you had put your bike in storage other wise I would have rang. It was all a bit of a last minute thing.

Hope to see you sometime again on another ride (in the summer months) :rockon:

Drinky said:

which restaurant in nijmegen did you go to?? .......

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The restaurant was Riva, on the water front :thumbup:.

I'm so glad we went last week It will take some time before we are rid of this snow. And that's one of the few conditions I don't ride in

Unseen said:

I'm so glad we went last week .....

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Me too, we couldn't have timed it better :thumbup:

Unseen said:

....... It will take some time before we are rid of this snow. And that's one of the few conditions I don't ride in

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The snow's starting to melt here on the coast now, although it's always at least a couple of degrees colder inland.
There is more (heavy) snow forecast for Thursday.