From around the world to just a round of Drenthe: cycling holidays are incredibly popular. Because the bicycle means freedom for many.
“Freedom to go where you want, the wind in your hair and not knowing where you will end up”, it sounds on the first Cycling Holiday Inspiration Day, at the Pet bookstore in Hoogeveen.
The avid cyclist couple Erik and Hetty Luppes organized the day. “We previously held a lecture at the cycling and walking fair in Utrecht. People liked that so much that Toni Melenhorst of the bookstore asked us to organize it in Hoogeveen as well. But there are so many more of those holiday cyclists in the region, so we also gave them a stage today.”
Like Henk Nijstad. He cycled from his farm in Echten to Denmark, the Czech Republic and Germany, among others. Trips of more than 1,000 kilometers. “I like to go for a bike ride.” A trip he will not soon forget is the one to Santiago de Compostela. He did that on a regular grandma’s bike. “I was used to that. With my butt in the saddle and hands on the handlebars, nice and upright, I lasted the longest.”
It can be that simple. Marica van der Meer seized an invitation to a friend’s birthday party to grab the bike. Only, that friend lived in Australia. “It becomes a lifestyle. Once you have experienced that freedom, you constantly want to go again.”
Nijstad’s most recent journey was through northern Thailand. He covered more than 2,500 kilometers on his, now new, touring bike. “You enter such a different culture. I just had to slow down to see everything.”
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