RONDJE NOORDZEE
Evening Chronicle
6 augustus 2008
Thieves scupper bike tourists’ trip
by Rob Pattinson
WELCOME to the North East.
Dutch couple Thijs Leentvaar and Marjolaine Poolman were nearing the end of their dream cycle trip when their bikes were stolen soon after arriving on Tyneside.
They were on the last leg of the 6,000km North Sea Route, cycling through the beauty of northern Europe, Scandinavia and the Scottish Highlands.
But within hours of arriving on Tyneside thieves stole their bikes, leaving their three-month adventure in tatters.
The bicycles were nabbed from outside their tent as Marjolaine and Thijs, 28, bedded down at the Lizard Lane campsite in South Shields.
Speech therapist Marjolaine, 25, said: “When we found out, we couldn’t stop crying. We’d relied on the bikes every day. The weather was great, but it was all the people we met along the way which made it so special. Now this has happened.”
Until the theft the cyclists, from Ede in the Netherlands, had topped more than 5,000 miles of the journey they’d been planning for four years.
On their £1,300 Dutch-made Koja Myaga bikes, they had covered at least 75 miles a day past beaches and lakes and over mountains, stopping to take in the stunning views.
The thieves struck after 10pm on Friday, as the couple caught up on sleep after their ride from Berwick.
“We don’t know how they managed it,” Marjolaine said.
“They were both chained to a bench and chained together. Whoever took them must have had some serious tools and put them in a car.
“The bikes and the whole journey were so precious to us. It makes me so angry this has happened.”
The couple had passed through Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Orkney Islands, and Scotland before the crooks struck.
Determined not to let it ruin their achievement, Marjolaine and Thijs have met up with the Dutchman’s parents and moved on to Hull.
Marjolaine said: “They’re going to help us get some new bikes. Hopefully we’re going to be able to finish. But we still want our bikes back.”
A spokesman for Northumbria Police said: “We got a report that two pedal cycles had been stolen from Lizard Lane Caravan Park, Lizard Lane, South Shields.
“It happened between 8am, on Friday and 9am, on Saturday.
“The Globe Trotter cycles are identical. They are both grey and green in colour and described as quite unusual and distinctive.”
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