Saturday, September 22, 2012

DAY 32: SUN 23 SEP - TIEL TO KINDERDIJK

Ride: 76km; total: 1,535km
Fine, partly cloudy, stayed cool all day 7-14deg

Breakfast wasn't till 8:00am so it was a late start for our ride.  We went directly to our first village after I had received precise instructions from the reception lady.  Graham was suspicious about taking a short cut but happy to miss a big loop into town and back.   

Today was up there with the best cycling day I've ever experienced.  Flat as a tack, tailwind, cool and through a completely new type of landscape for me.   Being Holland there were dikes, canals, streams, rivers, dams and ponds everywhere.   Just about every house was surrounded by some form of water.   The houses and farms were immaculately manicured, the hedges trimmed to perfection, with veggie/flower gardens anyone would be proud to call their own.  There were all types of farm animals and four-legged mowers, including the cutest miniature goats I've ever seen.  

Just as Graham was checking the first motel, The Kinderdijk, it started to rain, so we immediately took a room for 90euro incl breakfast, a reasonable price.  A view of 16 windmills from the room window and the Rhine, with its passing parade of shipping about 25m from the in-house restaurant window, confirmed that we were in Holland.   Had our daily cup of afternoon tea there.   A fitting finish to a great day.   

Tomorrow Graham leaves on the ferry from Rotterdam to Hull, UK so I'll be on my own again till Wendy arrives in Amsterdam next week.  Had a really nice dinner, cod & veggies in the restaurant then early to bed as it was too cold and wet for any walking.   The unheated room was also cold.   The weather turned fairly ordinary overnight with the rain and wind beating against the windows.   Luckily we only had to ride 3km to catch the ferry across to Rotterdam in the morning.  I used the wifi to book a motel on line for a two day stay there.


Dinner venue

Museum 'Buren and Oranje'


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