Hilary Staples
Hilary Staples is the editor of this site. She was born in the UK, but moved to Holland with her parents and her tricycle at a young age. Here she soon progressed to her first ‘big bicycle’ with training wheels! After cycling back and forth to school for many years, Hilary was up for something more adventurous. So after school she started exploring the area by bicycle.
Hilary's first cycling holiday to the Wadden Island of Texel left a lasting impression. That sense of exhilaration and freedom when reaching the other end of Holland all by yourself. Battling against the wind in the open polders. Not giving up. It was the first of many an enjoyable cycling holidays in Holland and abroad. Cycling abroad made Hilary realise how lucky the Dutch are to have so many fantastic cycling opportunities literally on their doorstep. How could she have taken something so unique for granted? She hopes to pass her enthusiasm on to you through this website.
Steven Staples
Steven Staples is the webmaster of this site. He is 100% Dutch. Some people claim that the Dutch are born on their bikes. Unfortunately, this is not true: Steven had to learn how to cycle by trial and error.
Like so many Dutch children, Steven was taken on his first cycle rides by his parents. Later he explored most of the country by bicycle on family holidays. Nowadays the bicycle is his everyday means of transport. Steven is a keen photographer. Whenever he can lay his hands on the camera, he also takes photos for this site.
Why Holland-Cycling.com?
Holland-Cycling.com started off as an excuse to go out and about on our bicycles and take lots of photos. During the process of setting up this website, we have started to see Holland through different eyes. And we wonder: how come the beauty of cycling in Holland is such a well kept secret? The main reason is that a lot of the information on cycling in Holland is only available in Dutch. There is a little information in English, but it is spread out over so many different websites, that it's often hard to find.
This website is for tourists and expats who want to cycle in Holland. It is meant as a guide to cycling in Holland. Our aim is to bring together in one place all the information you might need as a cyclist and pass on our enthusiasm for cycling in Holland and the unique Dutch cycling culture.
The entire website is in the English language and whenever possible, we give you links to web pages in English that you might find useful. Sometimes we give you a link to Dutch websites - this is always indicated in brackets after the link. We only give links to information that isn't in English if we think it is self-explanatory (if necessary with a few instructions) and doesn't require any knowledge of the Dutch language.
We hope Holland-Cycling.com will give you all the information and inspiration you need to come and explore Holland on your bike. Cycling doesn't get better than this!
