We’ve reached Rotterdam, deciding to bypass Delft by bike and return on the train tomorrow instead.

We headed out of The Hague via a laundette where we’d dropped some washing the night before; I’ve recently been to the inaugural Cycle Touring Festival and been inspired by travelling tales that included not washing for 18 consecutive days, but it seems that not all of this household came prepared to wear the same clothes even for just a week..

Once we’d retrieved the laundry and purchased emergency fruit we launched into the morning traffic. Despite the proximity of trams and riding in the dooring zone we made it out safely into canal-land again quickly.

Our little one one has taken to shouting ‘It’s a path! It’s a path!’ as soon as we get out of a city centre so he can get out of his trailer and onto his bike. He seems delighted to be cycling along with us, despite a few crashes and a fairly constant stream of instructions to ‘stay by the grass/follow Mummy’ as his lane management is still on the shaky side.

Coming into Rotterdam we experienced another wonderful, wide and flowering cycle way adjacent to the motorway – perfect for a snack or a nap.

Roundabouts here are glorious things. I’ve seen quite a few variations in the last few days but there is a significant similarity across them all – you know you’ll come out the other side alive. With a whole path and crossing system for bikes you just don’t mix with the traffic on a large roundabout. On a smaller roundabout your crossing points are set back from the motorised traffic and it seems like you have priority in some places – David Hembrow has written extensively about Dutch roundabout design here if you want the full picture.

Rotterdam is a large, busy and vibrant city with plenty of motorised traffic but with infrastructure like this we felt safe cycling our sleeping child into the city centre. I can’t give a higher commendation than that.