‘Bikes galore and a PhD defence in Holland’

We’re just back from a few days in the Netherlands. We had a lovely trip. It’s a country where everything works.

The public transport system works flawlessly. The trains are clean and modern and sometimes they are double decker. Trains and buses arrive and leave on time.

Our main reason to visit Holland was to attend Donagh Hennessy’s defence of his PhD in Wageningen University. Donagh is Tim’s nephew and he had advised us to stay in Utrecht rather than Amsterdam.

Donagh is a great guide with an in-depth knowledge of local history wherever he visits.

Utrecht is beautiful with winding canals, little cobbled streets and bridges with a myriad of little shops, cafés and restaurants to peruse. Lots of restaurants can be found down by the water’s edge on the canal. By night, it was idyllic with a few tourist boats taking in the sights from the canal while a flock of geese complained.

Big parks are another feature of Utrecht. The iconic Domtoren, a 14th century bell tower is quite spectacular, towering over the tree-lined canal. It has just reopened after years of refurbishment. Nevertheless, we passed on the 465 step climb to the top.

The Dom stands opposite the Gothic Cathedral of St Martin on central Domplein square. One of the squares houses a farmers’ market two days a week.

Like Ireland, while there were some nice stalls of meat, fish, cheese and bread, there were also the usual market extras available. Tim bought a grand leather belt for €20.

Bike culture

Utrecht is a city where you want to keep walking and explore further. It is home to 375,000 people. It is probably fair to say that they all own at least one bicycle. For the first time in my life, I understood Eamon Ryan’s frustration at the Irish people not using bikes.

Our hotel was situated near the railway station. Next to it was an underground bicycle parking garage for 12,500 bikes. One really has to see the bike culture to understand it.

Tim and I were two right Irish Paddies. We’d stand for several minutes every day watching the people on the bikes flying to and from work. Several had children on board.

The silence of the transport was really noticeable. There were dedicated, wide cycle lanes. The cyclists travelled at speed and only a handful wore helmets

Small children rode in basket-style containers that stuck out in front of the bikes. We watched one man fly past with two dogs in the basket. Ten minutes later, we spotted him on his return journey with a woman in the basket with the dogs.

The silence of the transport was really noticeable. There were dedicated, wide cycle lanes. The cyclists travelled at speed and only a handful wore helmets. We have a very long way to go in Ireland to have any semblance of this bike culture.

We travelled to Amsterdam to visit the Rijksmuseum. It is huge and houses many famous paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh and many others. After 90 minutes, I had a headache from the visual overload of so many paintings. We took a coffee break and then were able to view some more.

Circular food system

The highlight of our travels was Donagh’s defence of his PhD. It is entitled, ‘The role of pasture-based ruminants in circular food systems – the case of Ireland’. Donagh defended his thesis in front of a committee appointed by the Academic Board of Wageningen University at the Omnia Auditorium.

He was questioned in depth by Prof. Dr T. Huppertz and Dr J. Groot from Wageningen University & Research; Dr A. Frehner, Switzerland and Dr A. Mottet, Italy. The promoter of Donagh’s thesis was Prof. Dr I.J.M de Boer from Wageningen University and his co-promoters were Dr Laurence Shalloo and Dr Jonathan Herron of Teagasc Moorepark.

This thesis is the culmination of six years of research work.

Donagh was confident and direct in his presentation and he assertively fielded the questions from the eminent opponents. Consequently, he was awarded his PhD. We were privileged to be part of the formality and pomp of the occasion along with Donagh’s proud family.

It is my pleasure to write my congratulations to Dr Donagh P. Hennessy PhD.