Sunday 18 August 2013

August 15

We rode towards Harlem from Middelburg after a late start due to finally taking my friend Maurice's advice and buying a GPS. I also bought some new bike shorts, the fancy European touring kind. We road beside canals and some awesome beaches. We also rode over mega dikes that keep the Atlantic out of the Netherlands when the sea gets stormy. We saw the end of a professional bike race, all the cool teams were there in their big buses and fleets of cars with bicycles on the roof. By that time it was late we were tired and a farmer spotted us on the path. He stopped us and I explained that I couldn't speak english ( I was really tired ) but he was able to  communicate in English that he had a great campground at his place and we could pet his dogs if we wanted to. We wanted to pet his dogs so we followed him. The dogs were a bit like Xela, our dog at home. He gave us ice cold beer and water and extra tokens for extra long showers. That was in Ouddorp. Then we carried on to Haarlem and Yoly found a giant sand dune to play on, I didn't go because I have bad memories of sand in my shorts from a similar excursion in Australia. The ride was nice with the wind at our back with just some small rolling hills and cool cloudy weather. We were near the coast all the way and our new GPS says we were below see level at least half the time. The GPS wasn't set up for the bike paths so about half the time it wasn't pleased with our choice of route since we liked the bike paths and the GPS liked roads. We got to see the industrial side of Holland near Hook Van Holland and took some well place ferries that the GPS didn't know about. Then along the beach in the rain and we did a similar thing to what did in Australia and loaded our new chains and gears with sand. Oh we'll I guess they weren't going to be new for ever but it sure is a nasty sound when the sand get in there. We didn't get very wet because we were better prepared than last time and the rain wasn't as hard or for as long. We ran out of legs the next day in Scheveningen near Delft and Den Haag, we stayed at Badhotel Scheveningen. It was nice and there is an awesome beach and pier there.

Mega Dyke, that's not how it's said in Dutch.


Yoly on the dune.



Yoly Queen of the dune.


Yoly wants a motorcycle with a side car, I wonder who gets to drive?


The end of a bike race.


The riders from the famous teams are still signing autographs for the kids as the lesser teams start to leave.


Nice campground with a free beer, ice cold water, long showers and a cat to keep the mice out.


This is what housing should look like if it is built on a flood plain.


Oh dear, a deer.


And another deer in a national park along the dunes by the sea.












1 comment:

  1. Finally had a chance to read and catch up on your journey.
    Glad to read that you are both taking time out for just plan fun.
    Love the photos. Yes, Yolanda I could see you on such a bike one day.
    Take care my thoughts and prayers are with you both.
    valeria

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