I’m in a hotel room on the outskirts of Amsterdam with one of the UKs most prolific cycle campaigners, a social media guru that is setting the Internet alight with videos of cycling infrastructure and a woman that has prevented the rest of us from spending the entire weekend lost and cycling around the port at Ijmuiden. For my part, I have taught the Italian barman downstairs to make a decent cup of tea.

We started out in Newcastle as we meant to go on – with cake – at the very lovely Cycle Hub before setting off to the ferry at Tynemouth where we became friends with a group of elderly Dutch male cyclists.

We survived a night of being blasted by Euro- pop on the Newcastle to Ijmuiden ferry and then cycled out into Ijmuiden in great excitement, if mainly in the wrong direction.

Lizzie took the navigation in hand so we were soon back on track and making new friends in Haarlem

We pedalled into Amsterdam high on roundabouts and their associated infrastructure

We’ve all been here before but the thrill of being able to cycle safely is so overwhelming you can’t tire of it. In fact, all your holiday photos end us looking like this

Here is Sally and Lizzie discussing all the ways back to our hotel that won’t involve being run over by a truck

We love Haarlem and will be returning there today to assess the possibilities of setting up a tea shop as we’ve been pretty horrified by the state of the liquid refreshments and feel it’s an area where we can make a genuine contribution towards Dutch culture. Here is  Claire being appalled by this particular cup of ‘tea’. It just goes to show that the Netherlands isn’t perfect.