The day started being woken up on the ferry at 6.30 to the tune of "be happy", we docked at 7.45 and headed out on a very warm morning towards Rotterdam. I do enjoy cycling on to ferries, there is a great sense of achievement of having biked there. You always get treated well by the staff and get preferential treatment for embarking passport control etc.
The cycle paths in holland are simply incredible, they are well signposted, cars have to give way to you in nearly all occasions and the surface conditions are excellent. It is very safe, as there is very little interaction between cars and bicycles, an our helmets were soon discarded to the pannier racks.
About half way to Rotterdam, we stopped for breakfast in Maasaluis, and ate on a boat in the middle of a canal, a great start of the day, however we were told that the warm weather would soon turn to thunderstorms.
We got to Schiedam on the outskirts of Rotterdam when the heavens opened, just getting to the underground station in time to take shelter. Paula and myself actually fell asleep on the concrete floor while the kids played cards. I think the last few days were starting to catch us up.
After an hour the rain eased enough for us to continue. I was keen to go to Kinderdijk where there are about 20 old windmills, several of which still operate ( or at least still spin around) on Saturdays in summer. After a few wrong turns in the Rotterdam, adding about 10k, we found the windmills. They were pretty impressive and worth a visit, even though now it was obvious that we were not going to get to Bosch, and settled instead for Gorichem, a pretty town on the north side of the Waal river. Holland is an incredibly smart and tidy country, the gardens are amazing and from the dyke walls where you often cycle you have a good view of many of them. It is expensive to eat, drink and sleep here, but one thing of good value is ice cream. 1 euro a scoop and there seem to be ice cream shops everywhere.
The B&B in Gorichem was simply lovely, a fantastic old street house. It was been temporarily run by a very friendly couple who even washed our cycling kit. We ate pizza in town to complete another long day on the bike
Today's stats
Distance 96.9k
Time 5.05.01
Average speed 19.0kph
Climb 155m (mostly bridges!)
Total distance 401k
lovely cycling in Holland by the sounds of it. I wonder if you had a boschball to eat in S'hertogenosch? I am drooling just thinking about them, they are yummy yummy!! keep pedalling xxx
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