The players and staff enjoy a day of down time
Regular readers of these diaries will notice cycling has become a large part of our daily routine during the tour.For footballers hopping on a bike and putting the miles in is nothing particularly new and can be a big part of recovery from injury and fitness building in general.
But here in Holland it’s a little different - everyone cycles.
In the area we are based in the cycle lanes are almost as wide as the roads, and when the two do meet at junctions, it’s the two-wheelers which get the right of way.
As as usual, day five of the pre-season trip began with a team cycle around the circuit they enjoy each morning.
Not only is it used to get the players together, it also crucially gets them up and alert ready before training.
But unlike other packed days, it was the only activity on the board when the players walked in for breakfast.
After two games in two days, along with some pretty heavy training sessions, Steven Pressley decided to give the players a day off - and some well deserved rest.
Some used it to rest and recover, others decided to head out into the local town for something to eat in the afternoon.
Not the staff.
After sitting down to discuss what the staff should do, it was suggested the city of Arnhem would be a perfect place to find a nice restaurant for some down time - 2pm was the agreed departure time.
So for the only time this week the staff abandoned the Fleetwood Town official team wear and smartened themselves up - with smart shorts and polo the popular combination.
It was all going smoothly until assistant manager Neil McFarlane announced the city was just “five minutes down the road on the bike” and that it would be nice for us all to cycle the journey instead of jumping in a taxi - naively we trusted him.
55 minutes later the eight staff rolled into Arnhem - sweating and exhausted in the 32 degrees heat - we must have looked a right sight.
In the end we found a nice place to grab some food before again hoping on the bikes for the journey home.
By 8pm everyone was back in the hotel and ready for another tough day, the final full day of training here in Holland.
After a day off, most expect the last to be the toughest!