After Amsterdam

Leaving Amsterdam was a bit hairy, and extremely time consuming. By the time we got ahold of the right maps and figured out the best way to exit the city, it was already pretty late, so constant doubling back and weaving from side street to side street was not very enjoyable. The experience navigating out of Amsterdam and past Utrecht was enought of a hassle to convince both of us that avoiding cycling into cities should be a priority for the rest of the trip. However, once we were into quieter areas the cycling was lovely - we spent a good part of the day biking past farms and along canals.


We stopped for lunch (left-over homemade greek salad) at a great little town whose name I can't recall - we were looking for a bathroom but were impressed enough to linger for quite a while.

The last part of the day was a bit stressful since we had to make up a lot of distance at the end of the day. Once arriving in Gouda we were lucky to get directions to a great campsite from a passerby, and spent the evening enjoying a beer and watching football in the campsite pub.



Our second day of riding from Amsterdam brought us to a small town called Willemstad, just south of Rotterdam. We spent the morning at the Gouda market hoping to get some authentic Gouda cheese, but David miscalculated and bought Parmesan (tasty in small doses but 2 kg is a bit much). After the market we went south from Gouda and shared a ferry with a cycling club from Utrecht who were quite curious about us and asked many good natured questions about our trip.


We continued along the river Len to a town called Kinderdijk where we ate lunch while admiring about 13 windmills dating back to the 12th century. We then continued the ride onto Noord Brabant and the town of Willemstad. The lovely people and the possibility of spending a day on the beach were too much to overcome, and so we spent two nights in this lovely town. The picture at left shows the small lake in the campground during sunset (not the permanent trailers surrounding the lake, which is typical for all of the campsites we visited).


After our day off, we continued on into Zeeland. We crossed a number of immense bridges (3-5 kilometers each) and ended up on the island of North Beveland, where we spent a good amount of time cycling from one rural road to another looking for bike signs before finally arriving in our destination of Kamperland. The next day started off with a side trip to visit and impressive dam just north of Kamperland. This dam spans about three islands and is essential in keeping Holland dry despite its negative altitude. There is a picture of it to the left. We then cycled south through Middelburg and took a ferry to Breskens. Our destination for the day was Brugges, but poor weather and our morning side trip conspired against us and we ended up staying the night at a campsite in a town called Cadzan-Bad, just off the coast. This was apparently off the normal tourist track, as we were apparently one of about 3 groups of english-speaking tourists the campsite hosted per year, and the first Canadians ever!

A few final thoughts about the Netherlands. Riding in Holland was a dream from start to finish - I would take a busy street in Amsterdam over riding on Jasper or Whyte Avenue any day, and a large part of this is due to the care and consideration of the motorists and the commitment that has been made to making the country so cycling friendly. Also, the Dutch were unfailingly friendly and helpful, which made for a lovely trip. We were saved a few times by strangers who would stop and offer assistance when we were stopped at the side of the road and staring blankly at our maps. A final tidbit of interest - we stand out as tourists not because of our bermuda shorts, sun hats, numerous maps and camera bags or our mangled Dutch, but because we wear helmets! While I would much prefer protecting my melon to fitting in, it does make us stand out a bit. As we pulled into one campsite in Harlem, a fellow camper actually shouted "Touristiches!!"