Here’s how it is here in this town I live in in NL. The winters are milder, but it’s still -5C and foggy, rainy and icy.

In the 4km ride to the station, there is bike congestion in rush hour. Most of it because of elementary school children. I’ve never counted but there are hundreds of cyclists.

You’ve tried the Epley manoeuvre?

Are Halloween burgers actually a thing? Or is just something in our family?

I’ve biked in Spain a few times (Figueres to Santander through the Pyrenees) and it was mostly sharing roads with patient drivers. But other bits I did (Extramadura) had brand new highways so the old roads were great to bike on.

The absolute worst are Italian motorcyclists in Italy and neighbouring countries. Everyone else is pretty good.

The Dutch drivers get an N/A since you rarely interact with them. And isn’t no cars the best?

Quality of the EVs varies by country.
My experience:
France: A+
Germany: A (detours badly signed)
Italy: between A and F depending on region
Switzerland: expect gravel
Netherlands: don't bother, bike routes everywhere anyway

Off season, campgrounds almost always have a way to squeeze in cyclists.

Pretty much always camping. I visited 23 campgrounds in September. Of varying quality.

In Switzerland, schweizmobil.ch/en/summer has a great map and app.

The second part was with others, and we followed La Loire à Vélo, which is very well marked. It's basically EV6. Same general pattern, though. This is a great first-time bike tour route... flat, easy and lots to see and eat. 2/2

Usually, I pick a start and end and find my own route. In the morning I try to have a target for the evening. I rarely make reservations. The Alps was by myself which made it easier to go without a real plan. 1/2

Nice!
I spent Sept biking through the Alps, then across France. Now I live in the flattest country in the world, so Alp de Zwift is all I have. :(

25km per day is free!

I’m close to walking away. The right people are here, it’s just a little slow?

How’s this?

Only you can answer that last question. Momentum is strong though.

It seems perfectly normal to leave packages with neighbours, in backyards, behind garbage bins, etc. Going into our garage is not crazy.

But the delivering and setting up a stranger's new bike? That's new to me.

4/4

Instead, the delivery guy didn't want to leave a new bike out in the open, so he let himself into our garage and set up the bike. He probably used my tools.

The card they left reads "Your bike is in the shed. I straightened the handlebars and raised the saddle. No pedals. You're welcome!".

3/

The bike is delivered by PostNL (which is weird... imagine Canada Post rolling a new bike out of the truck). But we're not home so they leave a card.

In an ordinary country, they'd bring the product back and you'd sort something else out. But this is the Netherlands.

Never enough.