May 11th, 2014
Saturday morning was overcast with a forecast to rain starting at noon. It started at breakfast. We rode our bikes to the monument near Haarlam to recognize the youth and the ongoing a battle with the sea (no he did not have his finger in the dike). It continued to rain all the way to Amsterdam, a total of 35 km. Arriving in Amsterdam we had lunch at a film and food festival before continuing on to the Elodie. We relaxed on the barge before going out to an Argentinian restaurant for dinner. Wamme, our skipper, took some of us for a walking tour around Amsterdam to end the evening.
It was still raining on Sunday morning. We had our final breakfast before heading out to find our hotel in Amsterdam.
Laura, Glen, Karen, and Don ready to ride in the rain
Nina telling us the “story” about the monument
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May 9th, 2014
The rain ended in the night and the morning was overcast and very windy. Our captain of the Elodie told us to expect wind gusts up to Force 7 (50-60 km./hr.). Fortunately most of the riding had the wind either from the side or behind us. We left Leiden for the Keukenhof Gardens which were about 20 km. away. The Gardens were very good but the tulip fields before the gardens had no flowers left.
Many colours
Tulips
Some of our group
The ride to Haarlam was through many quiet bike paths including a narrow path between houses which tested our riding skills. A stop at a cafe gave us a refreshing break before we met up with the barge. The total for today was 40 km. Just after we got back we had a small thunderstorm with some hail. We were very pleased that we were inside dry and warm.
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May 8th, 2014
Yesterday we first toured a Delft Blue factory where all the pieces are hand painted. From there we rode from Delft to Den Haag. While riding past the king’s residence we were able to witness the official welcome of the Ghana ambassador. This was especially significant for our tour guide, Nina, who has lived in Ghana and her husband was from Ghana.
Official Welcome
We then toured a panoramic museum which had a 14 meter by 120 meter painting from the late 1800’s. Lunch was outside the International Court, an impressive location to eat our lunch.
International Court
We then rode up the along the coast in a park of sand dunes. Here the road was hilly with lots of curves. Fortunately we had a tail wind. At Katwijk we stopped for a break on the sea side and a taste of pickled herring. By the time we got to the Elodie in Leiden we had gone 39 km., a very good day. After dinner we took a canal tour of Leiden. Today (Thursday), we had a short ride to a farm that makes it’s own Gouda cheese (6 km. away). We were back to the barge at 11:30 and had the rest of the day to ourselves. We ended up walking downtown to do some shopping. When it started to rain we found a coffee shop in the library to catch up on email and post this blog.
Sand dunes at Katwijk
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May 6th, 2014
Group picture. Charlie is the one with the pointed head.
Our tour guide Nina.
In Gouda we toured the longest church in the Netherlands. From Gouda we rode to Kinderdijk through an area with many canals. From Kinderdijk we took the fast ferry to Rotterdam and the barge brought us to Delft. A bit of rain but nothing too bad. A walk around Delft after supper was very interesting with some amazing architecture.
Kinderdijk
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May 5th, 2014
Elodie
The barge has no Wi-Fi so we have to find a coffee shop with free internet. Yesterday we boarded the barge after being dropped off at the dock by Jan and Gerda. The barge brought us to the Amsterdam forest to start on the bikes. We rode through the forest, past the Schiphol airport. Charlie is the “sweeper” to make sure no one is left behind.
After 18 km. we arrived at Kudelstraat.
On Monday we had a long day of 58 km. We started the day with the flower auction at Aalsmeer. The volume of flowers and the ability to move and sort the flowers is amazing.
After breakfast we continued to Nieuwkoop to tour an operating windmill. After lunch in Alphen a/d Rijn we continued in the Lake District on quiet paths seeing birds such as swans, herons and of course geese. Livestock included cattle, sheep, pigs and llamas. Finally after 58 km. we arrived in Gouda.
Swan
Working Windmill
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