Utrecht
Culture and cafés in the capital of two wheels As the Tour de France kicks off in Utrecht, Ed Potton hops on his bike to explore this beautiful Dutch city
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icycles, bicycles, everywhere: pootling down cobbled streets, swooping over dinky bridges, parked in their thousands in multistorey bike parks. If the Netherlands is the bike capital of Europe, then Utrecht is the bike capital of the Netherlands. An estimated 43 per cent of the journeys made in this “cycle city” are on two wheels, against a national average of 26 per cent — 100,000 every day. What the locals call the fiets is to Utrecht what the rickshaw is to Delhi and the rollerblade is to Malibu. What better place for the world’s greatest bike race to start? Today, this lovely 2,000-year-old city of canals and church bells will achieve a long-cherished dream: hosting the “Grand Départ” of the Tour de France. My mate Adam and I tried out some of the route a few weeks before Chris Froome and company, albeit at a marginally — OK, massively — more sedate pace. We hired bikes via Utrecht’s idiot-proof scheme but it’s almost as easy to take your own on the overnight ferry from Harwich, a surprisingly classy operation that offers a three-course dinner and cabins with TV and bathrooms. Docking early the next
morning at the Hook of Holland, we were woken by a blast of Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry Be Happy down the intercom. We decided to take it as an omen, rather than an annoyance. From the Hook it’s a touch over 50 miles inland to Utrecht. The cycling, as ever in this part of the world, is undemanding, the only meaningful obstacles being “Dutch hills” (aka wind). Or you can do what we wusses did and jump on the train, which of course carries bikes and takes just over an hour. This city is certainly meant to be explored on two wheels. The fourth largest city in the Netherlands, Utrecht (pronounced “OO-trecht”) began life as a fortress defending the northern edge of the Roman empire, became the religious centre of the country in the 8th century and was its most important city until it lost that title to Amsterdam in the 17th century. You might think they’d be bitter at being eclipsed. Not a bit of it. Utrecht still has the biggest university in the country and we found it buzzy and enlightened, like Amsterdam without the stag dos and women in windows. A city that produced Marco van Basten, the genius footballer, Sylvia
Kristel, the soft-porn star of Emmanuelle, and Miffy, the cartoon rabbit, has clearly got something going on. It’s pretty, too: we rode alongside canals that felt more Bruges-like than Dutch, with medieval houses jostling along the water and wharves full of cellar bars and waterside cafés. Stopping off at one of the latter for a weapons-grade beer, we watched the chic locals glide by in speedboats. There was even a gondolier for hire. There are some lovely restaurants, too, especially Karaf, a swish modern European place where we had rare roast lamb and some stonking blue-cheese ice cream. Most of the city is accessible by bike — we spent most of our time on the predictably excellent network of protected bicycle lanes — but if you’re tempted, as we were, by the interiors and clothes shops you can easily leave your machine at the aforementioned multistorey park, which has room for 4,000 cycles, and digital screens indicating empty spaces. They sanded down some of the bumpier cobbles in preparation for the Tour, which will stay in Utrecht for two days: first around the city, and then following a 166km route that heads west to Zeeland on the North Sea coast. We took a 15km guided cycling tour that featured sections of both routes, taking us under the gothic arches of the city’s most famous landmark, the 14th-century, 112m Dom Tower, past the vast St Martin’s Cathedral, whose subterranean Roman ruins we stopped to explore, and then out of town to the Rietveld Schröder House, a Modernist classic that’s a Unesco World Heritage site. Our loop then took us through the surrounding flatlands and along the gorgeous tree-lined banks of the Kromme Rijn, a dammed offshoot of the Rhine, where we stopped off at the Rhijnauwen teahouse for apple and cinnamon pancakes. Utrecht stages a lot of cultural events — when we visited in May there was a really fun wine festival in one of the squares with DJs, a saxophonist and dancing. In August there’s a festival of early music and in late September the Netherlands Film Festival. Having seen what a hit the Games Makers were at the London Olympics, the organisers of the Grand Départ have recruited an army of volunteers called Tour
Makers — thanks to the university, Utrecht isn’t short of bright, friendly young people. The woman who led us up the Dom Tower was probably the most informed and enthusiastic guide I’ve been, erm, guided by. Bounding ahead of us up the 465 steps, she showed us the carillon, a keyboard instrument that allows its user to play the bells of the tower. Every afternoon the city chimes with melodies as the carillon player works their way through a repertoire that includes, naturally, Queen’s Bicycle Race. They really do like to ride their bicycles in Utrecht.
Need to know Ed Potton travelled as a guest of Stena Line (stenaline.co.uk) on the overnight ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland. There are twice-daily, seven-hour crossings, starting at £49 for a car and driver, one way. Additional adults are charged from £14.50 one way with children aged 4-15 paying half price. Foot passenger prices start from £36.50 per adult and £18.25 for children. Cabins start from £15 per person each way. Alternatively, Stena Line’s Dutchflyer rail-and-sail service allows customers to take any Greater Anglia service to Harwich, and then on to any Dutch city of their choice, including Utrecht (dutchflyer.co.uk). Fares start from £45pp one way Where to stay B&B Bij de Jongens in the centre of Utrecht has double rooms from €100 (£72) per night including breakfast (00 31 30 760 1119, bnbbijdejongens.nl)
Beside a canal in Utrecht