About Menno

Tour history from ± 1976 until now

My experience in Bicycle Touring has evolved over the years. I made all my bike trips in Europe, either alone or with a friend. But also with each one of my three children and with my wife Rieneke.

In 1976 I cycled in the South of England alone from Dover via Isle of Wight to Exeter and then back by train.

With Rieneke in Luxembourg.

In 1981 I cycled with My sweet wife Rieneke (biking and camping) from The Netherlands to Luxembourg. This was a great “disaster” It rained about 75% of the time. Since that eperience my wife doesn’t like cycling/camping anymore. I do continue to cycle with her on short tours and stay overnight in Hotels or we return home by train.

Between 1980- 1987 I cycled 3 times from The Netherlands to Switzerland and one of those times there and back again..

In 1992 I took my, then, 10 year old daughter Leontien on a biketour. We went by bike bus (This is line bus with a trailer for the bikes, a popular possibility in Europe, especially in The Netherlands) to Vittel in France and did cycle back home along The Maas, Moesel and Rhine Rivers.

Central England 1997

In 1997 I again Cycled with Leontien. This time on a rented tandem in Central England. This was once again a success, although, the tandem did not prove to be very reliable, a lot of spokes did break, so actually the Tandem part wasn’t such a success. Leontien is still very sportminded.

In 1999 I started on a longdistance Bikeroute to Rome with my son Max from my home Town in the Centre of The Netherlands. That first leg ended near the Belgian Ardennes at “Butgenbach” The trip was a bit tough for him but I think he will positively remember this trip the rest of his life.

With Max on the French border, 2002.

In 2002 I continued to follow the same Route with Max from where we left off last time at Butgenbach. In the Belgian Ardennes, where we went this time, It rained a good part of the trip and it was very cold in the French hilly part (3ºC ) but the weather did improve when we came nearer Switzerland. We finished this leg in Basel.

In 2003 I did the last leg of the above trail, the section from Basel to Rome with a good friend, Tjoan. A very hot and really great trip. We did cycle around 120 km a day. In Rome it was 40º Celsius! Far to hot to be there. We returned home first by train to Florence and from there by Bike Bus.

Menno on his trip to Rome with Tjoan in 2003

In 2003 I did cycle with my other daughter Esther ( then19 years) from Maastricht (a town in the southeast of The Netherlands ) to Paris (France). This was a huge success. She really did enjoy the cycling and we had a very good time. Went back by train.

In 2005 I cycled again with my oldest daughter Leontien from Luxemburg to Narbonne in the South of France (1350 km) in 12 days. An also very hot and exciting trip. My daughter rode a normal bike and I went with more luggage on my recumbent. It was great, a lot of beautiful nature, really bright stars, colourful birds, nice people, both on and off a bicycle along the way.

In 2006 I intended to do a solo-tour From Haarlem (The Netherlands) to the Spanish Border which happens to be halfway on the pilgrimageroute to Santiago the Compostella.(Spain) As it turned out I did cycle to the Spanish border but with a nice guy named Michel Schrijvers. I met him just before the Belgian border. He also had the intention to cycle the same route as I was following. We had a great time. My just installed Rohloff hubgear was great.

In 2007 I cycled the same route, with minor adjustments,to the spanish Border again but this time with Leontien. I made several changes to a new rack for the 2nd set of bags. The centre of gravity was now lower and more to the front of the bike. During the trip in 2006 I fell backwards on the road on a steep hill. The luggage was too much concentrated on the back of the bike. This time (2007) the hill was as steep as the last time but I did’t fall. We cycled to Bayonne (France) where we took the train home. We also rode the TGV, the very fast train to Paris.

Future Plans... on the bike!

I want to cycle the borders of the old Roman Empire. This is called the Lymes Route and stretches from the Dutch Coast all the way to the Coast of the Black Sea.

After that I would like to cycle to Istanbul, Turkey - perhaps some sections with my daughter Esther.

Even further in the Future, I would like to cycle in several legs to Beijing, China. Maybe during a sabatical leave from work, like the way I collected all the X-tra overtimehours and working hours during holidays as I did now, preparing for this 2008 journey.