Cycling in Amsterdam

For reasons of home logistics I start work very early these days. Cycling into work this morning around seven was very nice. Just a little chill in the air, lovely and dry, and hardly anybody around. It's lovely and quiet in the park that early in the morning, just a few people running, I heard a thrush singing and I could see the young storks standing on the nest. I don't think they will be there anymore this time next week. I love the park this time of the morning. And it is good cycling along the canal too, because there is precious little traffic.

Cycling in Amsterdam is not something simple. The rules, written and unwritten, are complex, and I can understand that the innocent tourist isn't aware of all of them. The cycle lanes seem very obvious to us, they are red, and they do have white bicycles painted on them, but sometimes they look a little like pavements, and if you don't have them back home you might think that you are supposed to walk there. You are not. Just as you are not supposed to cycle on the pavement.

Probably not all tourists know that ordinary traffic rules don't necessarily apply to cyclists here. For instance, it is customary for Amsterdam cyclists to ignore red traffic lights and just continue. It is not customary for cyclists to indicate where they are going, where they intend to turn a corner. Cyclists are in many cases allowed to enter a one-way street from the other direction, and even if that is not allowed they will. This may be confusing. I guess the rule is that you take the shortest way. These are just little things, and it does help to know.

I guess the best rule to remember is that cyclists are not expected to stick to the official rules, tourists are. Tourists on bicycles are expected to stick to the the unwritten rules for Amsterdam cyclists. I guess it is simple, really.