In those pre-EU days the European Continent still enjoyed an aura of glamour and excitement but a severe lack of funds necessitated the most austere of schedules. They decided to sail by boat toAmsterdam hire bicycles there and with a tent in their rucksack and the most basic of food supplies cycle around the country and see whatever they could.

Hollandis the perfect place to cycle as it’s completely flat. It is said that if you stand on the kitchen table you can see the whole country. (But put paper on the table first. The Dutch are very clean.) The three intrepid cyclists rode from urbanAmsterdamto ruralHolland passing windmills and dykes but no one in clogs. They slept in barns in fields; as close to nature — and spiders — as anyone would wish to be.