When Anya and I returned to The Netherlands in March, 2022, – after an absence of almost two and a half years, having been stranded in Australia during the Covid pandemic – one of the first things we did was to retrieve our bikes from our cellar. It was one of  a row of cellars beneath the apartment block and after such a prolonged time, the tyres were flat. We pumped up the tyres, oiled the chains, wiped off the layer of dust and went for a long ride. 

We were in for a surprise.

During our absence, the entire country had gone over to the e-bike. Before our departure in January 2020, most people rode normal push bikes, as they had done indeed since the 19th Century, when the bike became the most common form of transport and, a national icon along with windmills, dykes, cheese and tulips.

Just how or why such a rapid change had come about within such a relatively short period of time seemed like a mystery, leastways at the outset. 

During the Covid no one was allowed to attend any kind of social events or go out to a restaurant or a non essential shop etc. One was allowed to go out alone or with anyone person for a few hours a day. There was a curfew.

It was then that the sale of e-bikes took off, when people who normally never rode a bike turned to the e-bike en masse. Anya and I, who pushed the pedals manually, found ourselves surrounded by people who didn’t. The only group who did likewise were those on racing bikes and we didn’t belong that group either. We rode standard bikes and thereby found ourselves the members of a tiny and dwindling minority.   

These photos are from our first bike trip in The Netherlands post covid – and quite a change from our bike trips in South Australia during the covid!

Bike Riding in The Netherlands (Part 1)