BY BIKE FROM HOLLAND TO FRANCE
second half of August, 1950
On a sturdy Dutch bike I carried considerably more than my own weight
in camping gear packed in seven different bags, five on the back, two up
front.
The three gears gave up in Belgium, where I camped the second night
at Liliane Beaupain's house in Verviers, and got stuffed full of steak and
chocolade.
I continued along the river Meuse, visited Namur, Dinant, and
the caves at Han (one of my first experiences with mountains and rocks!).
Next came Bastogne, well-known for the "Battle of
the Bulge" and the word "NUTS", shown on every souvenir.
Even
though I walked and pushed my bike most of the time, I had a good time and
met several other small groups of Dutch bikers. We crossed the border to
Luxembourg and freewheeled for about 7 kms on our way to Clerveaux when
friend Frans fell into the gravel and got damaged almost as much as his
bike -
I did first aid on him while the others tried to restore his bike.
The next evening I was all alone again and decided to treat myself to a
steak, considering that I had spent less than one guilder (US$ 0.25) a day
up to then. When the steak was done, I put it on a rock to cool, and took
off for a bush to make some space in my stomach; imagine my delight when I returned and
saw a dog run away with my steak!
Next came the French border and a
visit to Verdun and the depressing thousands of graves of WW1. On the way
to Rheims, on August 28, my pedal broke and could not be fixed. I was
referred to little house along the railroad, where the lovely witty widow
MMe G.M. kept watch and would fix me up with a ride to Paris. However,
after dinner no more trucks showed, so she promised there would be
newspaper trucks at 4 in the morning - so I said I would pitch my tent in
the yard - so she said that was not necessary since she had a double bed..
The last I remember is her asking me not to ravish her but to be gentle,
so I said good night and turned around and really went to sleep!
After
all, I was a boyscout and aspired to be a gentleman...
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The truck did take
me to Paris where I was the guest of a French lady scout who had visited
Amstelveen in 1949. I sold my father's stampcollection to raise money so I
could ship the bike back to Holland (cost 15 guilders), and I decided to
hitchhike back home to be in time for the start of the Naval Academy. To
my surprise, the hiking went better than biking, and I was back in
Amstelveen within 48 hours, climbing though the bedroom windows in the
early morning of September 3. to continue to the next page of Ben Oostdam's Autobiography (years 1950-1952) |