A Day At The Beach

Set in the dunes south of Amsterdam and steeped in motorsport history, Zandvoort is a legendary circuit for motorsport fans. John Glynn saddles up and heads for the Netherlands.

- John Glynn

We arrive at the Channel Tunnel with one minute left to spare on our half-hour check-in window and join a long queue of cars. By the time our turn comes around, the machine displays “you have missed your allotted travel slot – next available slot is 12:20” as our only option. That’s over two hours away. Press OK to continue.

This is fifteen-year-old daughter Ciara’s first time on a European motorcycle tour and her first time on the Eurotunnel, so her excitement and today’s perfect weather help the time pass quickly. Eventually, we join a stream of more than seventy bikes heading towards the loading ramps and file into the train. Camaraderie is always good amongst bikers (“lads on tour”, as Ciara calls it) and one friendly chat with our neighbours later, we roll off in Calais and join the eastbound E40.

Our destination is Aalsmeer, just south of Amsterdam. It’s an easy-going suburb by the airport, from where Ciara can easily catch a train into Amsterdam and I can easily ride the 20kms or so out to Zandvoort, where the Historic Grand Prix is taking place this weekend. As I’ve been promising to come here and support Mark and James Bates of EB Motorsport for a couple of years, the time has finally come to ride out and cheer the boys on.

We’ll be staying in Aalsmeer for a couple of nights, then coming home via the old town of Bruges for an overnight stop on our way back to England. The ride is a cool little road trip that I have done in my 911 several times, but as I’m slightly paranoid about old Porsches getting stolen and my Carrera 3.0 is off the road in any case, the bike will do instead.