Got up at some ungodly hour (about 7am) to shut the curtains as this bright thing was shining into my eyes. By the time we got up (9am), bright thing had disappeared to be replaced with normality. Pretty typical, although we were a bit excited at the prospect of some sun.

We cycled at a leisurely pace today (pretty much the same as every day). Not alot of energy was exerted. I wear a sports watch and heart rate monitor which measures my calories burned. I will burn about 1000 calories in a normal day, some days as much at 1500 calories. Today I only burned 481 calories. I usually try to burn at least 1000 calories per day, the only problem is, as I get fitter I need to cycle further to burn more calories!

We have been seeing lots of old cars out this weekend. Old Jags, Triumphs, Morgans, Citroens and also a bunch of really really old ones.

Old cars lining up for the ferry

Little automatic lawn mower. I want one!

Nice cycle ride along a canal

Yesterday we awoke to rain so hibernated for the day, only venturing out for food and wine.  The next morning the skies were clear so we made a break for it. After about 30 mins we got wet.

We cycles through some nice little towns with harbours.   Luckily by lunchtime the rain stopped and we were able to eat our bread without it getting soggy.

Most of the day was pretty uneventful. We cycled through farmland, baa’d at sheep and I wrote a few songs. I wrote an especially heartfelt one about an old windmill that was standing alone in a paddock,  no longer needed, made reduntant by modern technology.

We stopped at a campground after 87 km. The ground was really soggy and flooded in places. We decided to stay in a hotel that had a strange smell or gerkins.

I’ve written this blog from my phone so will upload photos when we get back online properly.

One of the sheep I baa’d at

Poor old windmill

Damp forest

We awoke to thunder and heavy rain. I rolled over and decided I wouldn’t get out of bed today. By 8.30am the skies had cleared and the sun was out which meant I had to get up. How rude.

The day started with a long, straight and boring road which we had to share with cars. It was very exposed. There was no shelter from the strong wind which came at us from the left. After about 30 minutes of cycling the rain came. There was a house up ahead with a bunch of trees, so we stopped there for shelter and put our wet weather trousers on.

The next 20 kms was like this. Long, straight road with occasional horizontal rain. Then we came to the bridge. We have been following a route recommended to us by Motorbike Man who we met a few days ago. It’s a 300 km route around a lake with a 30 km bridge crossing.

I had been a bit worried about the bridge crossing, especially in these high winds. As it turned out, we had a wonderful tail wind and there was a dyke wall to protect us from the North sea on the left. We were riding along thinking we were pretty hardcore – cycling across a 30 km bridge, when we met a pair of little old ladies cycling in the opposite direction – INTO the wind. They must have been in their 70s.

We stopped at the restaurant in the middle of the bridge and took some photos.

We had done 60kms when we decided to stop for the night at an amazing B&B. On arrival the lady brought us coffee and a pastry which we ate in the garden.

To save costs, we bought a cooked chicken and some salad to eat in the garden for dinner. Mike grabbed our plastic plates and sporks, and our coffee mugs to drink our wine from. As we were laying out our picnic the lady said “why don’t you use the guest kitchen?” Grrr, she could have told us that when we checked in. We could have cooked a meal.

Anyway – we moved all our food inside and ate from real plates, used proper knives and forks and most importantly we drank our wine from real wine glasses.

Photo from the middle of the 30km bridge

Sheep with really long necks

Fighter jets kept buzzing us all day.

As per normal, getting out of a town is more difficult than getting into it. After several attempts of riding out and backtracking to check signs, we made it out of town and back onto the cycle path.

It was another gloomy day, threatening with rain which never happened. We cycled along a dyke beside the lake and it was a wonderful ride with a tail wind pushing us along.

After about 30kms of riding we ended up with a headwind. This is the first headwind of our trip and it was hard work and not much fun. It’s Holland’s version of a hill – except it never ends…

After 52 kms we stopped and checked the price of a hotel. They only had one room left but it was out of our budget so we went across the road to the tourist office to see what else was about. This was the only hotel in town. There was also a camping ground but it was 6km back in the direction we had just come from and we didn’t really want to backtrack in the wind. As we left the tourist office, it started raining. Decision made, hotel it is.

As we were checking in, another cyclist came in all wet and bothered asking for a room. Phew – that was lucky – we almost missed by that much!

Tomorrow we will cycle across a 30 km bridge with a restaurant in the middle.

Bikes on dyke

We left Amsterdam and continued to head north. It was nice to have a break but it was also nice to be back on the bikes.

Mike’s stupid cycle GPS can find it’s way to the red light district, but it seems to have trouble finding any of the many cycle lanes in Holland. Today it tried to send us through a major motorway tunnel. The thing we have found about cycling on Holland is that you NEVER have to ride on the road. There is a cycle path for every place you go.

Today we cycled along dykes and beside farmland. There was a wonderful view of the lake on our right and the rotten smell of cowshit blowing in from our left.

The weather is not so great now. The sunny days are gone and it is overcast, cooler, and always threatening to rain. We have been pretty lucky so far and haven’t got wet.

We spent 2 days in Amsterdam as we needed a rest and the forecast was for rain. We stayed at an overpriced hotel near the station, but it was an excellent location being so central.

Amsterdam is a great city just to wander around, chill out in a coffee shop or visit museums.

We went to the Van Gogh museum. There is always a queue a mile long here, with people queuing around two corners. We bought our tickets in advance from a ticket office just up the road a bit and walked straight in. We still can’t figure out why the people were queueing.

Walking around Amsterdam you have to constantly watch out for bike riders. They are everywhere and come at you from all directions. Their skill amazes me. They appear so relaxed as they duck and weave their way through the maze of cyclists, never quite touching, never swearing, just having a good weave.

We accidentally found ourselves in the red light district. I noticed Mike had his GPS out at the time so am unsure whether it was an accident. In the red light district you can window shop and there are many choices. Black ones, white ones, skinny ones or fat ones. They don’t advertise the prices though.

The young American tourists are funny too. You see them wandering around the streets with their backpacks (having just got off the train) saying “OMG, we’ve only just arrived and I can smell weed”, or “How cool is this city, I can smell weed everywhere”.

It was fun.

Canal in amsterdam

Rained in at Amsterdam

We checked out of our lovely hotel at noon so had a late start to the day. The sun was out and it was such an enjoyable ride through the sand dunes. We just tootled along and took our time, stopping to eat some lunch, view a game of sand hockey or listen to one of the many bands playing on the beach.

After about 50 kms the trails ended. We stopped riding to decide where we would head next. As usual, Indecision was being a pain. We could either carry on cycling north or head inland to Amsterdam. As we were discussing our options a guy on a motorbike stopped and asked if we needed any help. “No thanks”, Mike said. “We don’t know where we are going so it is hard to ask for directions”. Motorbike Man replied “Well it’s going to rain tomorrow and hard, I suggest you go to Amsterdam. At least there will be things to do there”.

OK, Decicion made for us by Motorbike Man. He asked where we were heading after Amsterdam. “We don’t know” we replied in unison. He had a look at our map and showed us all the nice areas to go. So our route for the next two weeks also decided by Motorbike Man. Thanks Motorbike Man 🙂

We headed toward Amsterdam. We still had about 30 kms to ride and it was the longest 30 kms ever. We would stop at a red light. Cross the road. Stop at another red light. Cross another road. It was painful and not the nicest of scenery. We finally made it to Amsterdam about 8pm. We were so tired, but we couldn’t see any hotels. Mike started navigating to one in his Garmin, but it led us through all these dodgy suburban streets and I didn’t like the look of it. So we decided to navigate to the IBIS, which is near the train station. From memory, I knew the train station was central.

We finally arrived at the IBIS absolutely shattered. The price was ridiculously expensive but we just needed to stop. The other bummer was they had nowhere to park our bikes. We looked outside and there were thousands of bikes parked up, most of them damaged in some form, some were totally wrecked. They were all really crappy as well. Our bikes would stand out like a sore thumb in this lot.

Luckily there was a bike storage place next door so we put our bikes in there and hoped for the best.

Beach Hockey

Nowhere to park our bikes

Nice cycling through sand dunes

Today we got lost amongst a complex network of cycle lanes. We were not sure which direction to head, so while we were on the ferry we got chatting to a couple of German cycle tourers. They were heading to Den Haag (the Hague) then on to Amsterdam. This sounded good so we decided to do it too.

We had a bit of a communication breakdown between the two of us and instead of taking the scenic route to Den Haag, we took the direct route on a cycle lane next to all the traffic. Seeing all the people stuck in the rat race they call life, I am glad I don’t do this anymore. It makes you wonder why people are in such a rush, what is so important that needs to be done so urgently, why do they need to earn so much money and more? Reminds me of the joke about the Mexican fisherman happy to earn just enough to support his family and the American banker wanting to turn his business into a big corporation.

Den Haag was a bit of a diversion from the coast. We ummed and ahhed whether we should make the 9 km diversion. We looked at a hotel on the coast but it was really expensive. We decided to divert and we were glad we did. The centre of Den Haag was really nice. Lots of bars and restaurants. We were really tired and hoped the hotels wouldn’t be too expensive. We stopped at the first one we saw and it was in our price range and included breakfast. bonus. Unfortunately they had nowhere to keep our bikes. This was a first. All hotels so far have had a system for our bikes.

We checked out another hotel up the street a bit but it looked really expensive. We asked the price and it was even cheaper than the first one we looked at. When the receptionist went to show us the room, it hadn’t been cleaned properly. This was unfortunate as it looked like a really nice room. She said she had one more room, but it was an executive room, but we could have it for the same price. It was bigger than a London apartment I once had! So we stopped the nght.

We went out about 7.30pm to look for a restaurant for dinner. It was a hot evening. We passed a crowded bar where everyone was sitting inside. I assumed it must be air conditioned, but Mike said there were people smoking in there and it must be a coffee shop. I thought these were only in Amsterdam. Must check it out later.

We found an amazing restaurant for dinner. We had a delicious 3 course meal for a reasonable price and a half litre of red wine.

After dinner, the wine gave me the dutch courage (so to speak) to investigate the coffee shop up the road. There was a security guy on the door and this was a bit freaky. There was a takeaway at the entrance to the bar. We entered with a false confidence. I asked to have a look. He brought out a bucket of stuff for me to view. I picked some up, smelt it and commented that is smelt good, like I was a connoisseur of such things (I had no idea).

He gave us a little bit to try in the bar next door. I took a couple of puffs, complained that it tasted disgusting and we left.

Our really large hotel room

It rained on and off all night but thankfully stopped in the morning. At 8am the tent was so hot I had to get out.

The day turned into a lovely hot one. The cycling in Holland is so easy. There are cycle paths everywhere and there is never any need to cycle on the roads. Today we cycled on paths that meandered through sand dunes and across long brigdes.

We are pretty fit now and today we overtook a pair of cycle tourers. We powered up the hill and gave them a little wave as we rocketed past them. We were both very impressed with ourselves.

It was quite a long day in the end. I really wanted to find a hotel, but there were none to be found. We checked out a couple of campgrounds but they were charging 22 euros to camp. This is ridiculously expensive just to put our little tent up and use the toilets (This price does not include showers – they cost extra, and you have to supply your own toilet paper.). Then you see the big motorhome next to you with a double awning taking up ten times the space and only paying the same as you. It’s just NOT FAIR!

We kept on cycling thinking sooner or later something will turn up. After 87 kms we found a nice little campsite on a farm. It was only 11 euros to camp. The facilities modern and clean, and they supplied toilet paper. There was one other tent there and lo and behold – it was the cycle tourers we overtook earlier in the day. How the hell they beat us here I do not know!

Anyway – we managed to cook our dinner before it rained tonight 🙂

Long bridge we cycled across. A large cycle lane just for us.

We left Belgium and found our way to Holland. The noticable difference was that we lost the signs we were following but found many other signs. The problem was we had no idea where they went.

It was a gorgeous warm sunny day as we cycled thru fields and beside the sea.

There was a bit of war junk lying around this region too.

We caught the ferry to vassss and this was a nice little town setting up for a festival. Bars with sofas lined the streets and the sweet smell of marijuana wafted around.

As it was a such a stunning day we decided to camp. We had our showers and were just about to start cooking our dinner when out of nowhere a thunder storm appeared.

Giant droplets of rain forced us to dive for cover in our little tent.  Thunder and lightening was all around as we huddled together for comfort, frightened by the flashes and immediate rumble of thunder overhead and only a chocolate bar for dinner. (Ok, I was scared stiff and Mike was secretly enjoying it).