Elfstedentocht

I have to admit I have been swept up in the euphoria around a possible Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Tour), but with minimal ice growth the last few nights it's not looking likely is it?

Every year I get quite excited about the idea of being able to experience (albeit this year on a television due to three sprogs in tow) such a truly Dutch sporting event. The reason why escapes me because I am no ice skater myself. In fact, I can count on two fingers the number of times I have been on ice skates - both times in an English ice rink, and both times more than two decades ago. Both times I seem to recall a lot of bum bruising, cursing and death grips (whoever happened to be near to me when I was about to plunge to the ice). And yet I am fascinated by the idea of this 200km skating tour through Friesland. I'm as gripped by the idea as any Dutchman (or woman).

When the last tocht took place in 1997, I was in England, had never heard of the Elfstedentocht (and to be honestly knew very little about the Netherlands at all) and could not have imagined my annual interest in a potential ice tour through the Dutch northern province. In 2009, I was experiencing the Dutch euphoria when ice hits and even writing about the phenomena that is ice skating in the Netherlands - (Read When Holland Freezes Over).

How things change..... and how I hope I get to see an Elfstedentocht some day!

Check this video out to feel a little of the excitement around an Elfstedentocht: http://www.rnw.nl/english/video/skating-tour-1985-caught-film

For more info and to keep up to date with happenings this year: http://www.rnw.nl/english/dossier/elevencitiestour

Ten Things You Don't Know about The Netherlands and the Dutch Until You Move Here (Part 5)

(c) Amanda van Mulligen

The typical Dutch stereotype consists of cheese eating, clog wearing tall people talking a dialect of German with a backdrop of windmills sailing round on the flatlands. However, there is much more to this small country and the people who live in it than the rest of the world thinks. Here's the fifth and last part of a series on things you don't necessarily know about the Dutch and their country until you move here.

9. Politics is Fragmented, To Say the Least
Before I moved to the Netherlands, I had little experience or direct knowledge of how it is to live in a country under a coalition government. Since I moved to the Netherlands I have known little else. Until the last general election in 2010 in the UK, there has been no coalition in my lifetime, or my parents' life time come to that. Recent Dutch politics has been nothing but a series of coalitions, and unstable ones at that. To say recent Dutch governments have been fragile is an understatement - yet somehow that isn't reflected in daily life.

The newest Dutch government took a few months to form and was controversial to say the least. However, looking on the bright side - it could be worse... we could be living in Belgium where they have been living with no government for seven months.

The Dutch take to the Ice (c) A van Mulligen

10. The Dutch are Ice Crazy
Maybe I led a sheltered life in England but I had never stood on a frozen lake or seen people skating on natural ice until I came to the Netherlands. If we have a cold spell here, the shops are amok with Dutch folk trying to buy new skates. As soon as there is ice covering any waterway the Dutch make a mad dash for their skates and take to the ice like ducks to water. And they have a blast. I have never seen anything like it - the Elfstedentocht is a great example of the enthusiasm and excitement for skating in this little land.

Of course there is a dangerous side - lives are lost because of thin ice. At best, falling through the ice is certainly no fun and not something you forget in a hurry. My husband can attest to that!

Keeping the Bike Wheels Turning

Photo: A van Mulligen

An article on Nu.nl last week reported that many cyclists are complaining that cycle paths are icy and slippy. My initial thought was "Well d'oh! That white stuff keeps falling from the sky, it keeps freezing - and besides the paths are no party either, and even local roads are a mess."

And then the penny dropped - this is what makes the Netherlands that bit different from many other European countries, particularly my country of origin, Britain. Cycle paths here are a way of life, much more than they are in the UK and cycling in the Netherlands is an accepted means of transportation. Getting on your bike is not just a fun Sunday afternoon out, it's a way of life, it's a way of getting from A to B. So snow and ice on the cycle paths is cause for a moan - in the same way the Brits would moan if most of the roads were not cleared for driving safely on.

I read a blog post about cycling in the snow and ice - and at the end of it there was an interesting comment from a Brit living in Sweden. There, many cycle paths are cleared before roads. Culture plays such an important role in how we get about when winter hits.

I witnessed a young man cycling yesterday on my way to the shops and I wasn't sure if I should admire his determination or have him committed. He hared across the icy path in front of me on his two wheels, pedalled across the slushy road and careered onto the snow covered cycle path. And he came to a wobbly grinding halt. Undeterred, he picked up his bike in a graceful motion, placed it on the road and tore off again. Even those in cars were edging their way cautiously along the road but this young cyclist obviously had no desire to be held back by a bit of ice and ten centimetres of snow. However, other cyclists are a little more cautious - hence the complaints pouring in to the Fietsersbond.

The Fietsersbond (Cycling Association) is calling for all main cycle routes to be cleared (not just gritted but swept of snow too). However, we are already hearing mutterings that the salt supply is running low across the country.... and we have much more winter to come.

Are you braving the snow on your bike or have you tucked your bike away until the snow clears?

A December Winterland

Photo: (C) L van Mulligen

The Netherlands (and much of Europe) has turned into a white winterland in the last few days. Last Thursday it started snowing and a major downfall over the weekend topped it off. For those with no place to go, it has been a few days of sledging, snow boarding and even langlaufen on the unusually quiet roads. 

Photo: (C) A van Mulligen

For those with some place to go, it has been chaos. A quick trip to the supermarket on Saturday for my husband turned in to a scene from a strange movie - he waited with a cyclist for an ambulance to turn up after she slipped on her bike and cut her head open and he witnessed the fire brigade pulling a car from its side in the shopping centre car park after the driver had skidded, hit the kerb and turned the car. It's mad out there!

Photo: (C) A van Mulligen

For those heading abroad for Christmas the recent weather has certainly scuppered travel plans (see Chelsea Girl in China's tale of her quest to get home). I just hope that any of you heading somewhere to spend Christmas with your families make it there in the end. There is a thaw scheduled this week - so the weathermen say.........