Netherlands’ Fiets-vakantiewinkel, for bicyclists

I enjoyed the Feature Article “Biking the Backroads” by Jim Johnson (June ’16, pg. 22). Flory, my late wife, and I biked independently quite a bit. Twelve years in a row, each year we biked approximately 3,000 miles through Europe and North Africa during 2- to 2½-month tours, using a different route each time.

To delineate our routes, we used maps and books from a shop in the Netherlands: Fietsvakantiewinkel (Marithaime 13B, 6662 WD Elst, Netherlands; phone +31 24 388 9065, email winkel@fietsvakantie winkel.nl or visit www.fietsvakantie winkel.nl). (Information on the website is in Dutch, but you can get the English version by using “Translate” on Google.)

This company provides bicycle maps for destinations worldwide and books about bicycling plus all bike-related paraphernalia. It also offers bike tours to many areas of the world.

Situated in Elst, near Nijmegen, the shop is open (except on official holidays) from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. only on Fridays and the first four Saturdays of April, May, June and July. However, you can reach the company reps, who speak English, by telephone at 011 [31] 24 3249 588 from 12 to 4, Monday through Thursday.

The shop is now in eastern Netherlands, but until about 2015 it was located in Woerden, about a half hour from Amsterdam. I spent many hours at the shop and always came away with maps I didn’t know existed. During a recent 10-year period, there was no physical shop, then, in April 2015, it started up in the new location, with markedly reduced hours.

Our European bike trips took place when we we were in our late sixties and early seventies. People often stopped us to inquire how old we were. (I am now 91½.)

PHILIP WAGENAAR

Contributing Editor