24-05-2023, 05:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 24-05-2023, 09:43 PM by David Cochrane.)
Just back from a fortnight's holiday in the Netherlands in the RP saloon. This enlivened proceedings by running out of petrol twice - the repaired petrol gauge had ceased working again after only 50 miles since its repair. The half-charge also stopped working, caused by the resistor I use for this falling apart. However it excelled itself by shedding its n/s rear wheel - this bounded ahead over a roundabout and lost itself in a large area of 6ft high reeds - over an hour's searching failed to find it. Fortunately it didn't hit anyone or anything, and also fortunately it happened on a short piece of dual carriageway with a grass verge, instead of the single carriageway flanked on both sides by concrete walls just preceding this... I am feeling a bit ashamed of this incident because there were symptoms beforehand, if only I had recognised them for what they were. So if anyone has a 19" wheel with a reasonable Staybrite centre that I could exchange for some goodies or folding stuff I would be very grateful.
We went up to the north of the country (Friesland) for the Elfsteden Oldtimer Rally, a run of 270km around the 11 historic towns which are used for the Elfstedentocht long-distance skating event (which hasn't been run since 1997 because it hasn't been cold enough for long enough). 400 cars and 200 motorbikes, all pre-1949. A lot of American cars and 8 Austin 7s & 2 Rosengarts. A good event and definitely to be recommended. We went up there for the previous week and explored the towns at leisure, as on the day you don’t really have the opportunity to do this.
Some differences: the Dutch roads are all amazingly well surfaced – even the remote rural ones; we only found one that was below standard. Such a contrast to the rough potholed rubbish that we have to put up with. However there are loads of speed bumps which vary in severity, so you can get lulled into a sense of security by some gentle ones then CRASH THUMP as you hit the next one. They also put them in random places for no apparent reason. The design of their many roundabouts is awful – small and tight with sharp corners on the entrances & exits. Signposting isn’t as good as the UK’s, and the traffic lights are all high up over the carriageway so are impossible to see unless you crane your neck peering out through the top of the windscreen. Driving around the built-up area between Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam is hard work, quite the most stressful part of Europe I have encountered.
Total mileage for the trip (including the UK bits) was 1025.
We went up to the north of the country (Friesland) for the Elfsteden Oldtimer Rally, a run of 270km around the 11 historic towns which are used for the Elfstedentocht long-distance skating event (which hasn't been run since 1997 because it hasn't been cold enough for long enough). 400 cars and 200 motorbikes, all pre-1949. A lot of American cars and 8 Austin 7s & 2 Rosengarts. A good event and definitely to be recommended. We went up there for the previous week and explored the towns at leisure, as on the day you don’t really have the opportunity to do this.
Some differences: the Dutch roads are all amazingly well surfaced – even the remote rural ones; we only found one that was below standard. Such a contrast to the rough potholed rubbish that we have to put up with. However there are loads of speed bumps which vary in severity, so you can get lulled into a sense of security by some gentle ones then CRASH THUMP as you hit the next one. They also put them in random places for no apparent reason. The design of their many roundabouts is awful – small and tight with sharp corners on the entrances & exits. Signposting isn’t as good as the UK’s, and the traffic lights are all high up over the carriageway so are impossible to see unless you crane your neck peering out through the top of the windscreen. Driving around the built-up area between Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam is hard work, quite the most stressful part of Europe I have encountered.
Total mileage for the trip (including the UK bits) was 1025.