On our own again - from Hilversum we had a long windward ride into a 20 MPH headwind and with some unexpected rough spots, but finally made it to our tiny house on a private Island in Weteringbrug near Leimuiden. Frans picked us up with his private ferry and we had a restful few days exploring the area. We learned a lot more about historic Dutch defense lines and strategies from WWI and II.
From Wannaperveen we cycled up to Steenwijk and caught the train to Amersfoort where we stayed at the old Tabaksplant hotel right near the east gate and well-preserved walking zone. We had a lovely late lunch on the veranda at Madonnas overlooking the canal. The next day we cycled back to HIlversum stopping for lunch at the Vuurs Restaurant near the Vuursche castle on the edge of the deep woods en route.
A respite of 2 nights in Wannaperveen, a charming cottage on a point of land surrounded by canals in the National Park that surrounds Giethoorn. We celebrated Marina's birthday with a dinner at Ristorante Fratelli. At our Windmill BnB Jannika added a birthday bow to Marina's bicycle. The rest day turned out to be not so restful with a circular ride exploring the area with a lunch stop at the LockView restaurant in Blokzjil. I was reallly tired so the girls cooked a wonderful dinner for us and served on the patio.
We've stayed in some interesting places and experienced some charming towns, but our stay in the Windmill house in Kampen is our favorite! Our hosts Ernst and Jannika gve us an enthusiastic personalized tour of the windmill and produced a sumptuous breakfast. The Windmill is called "the Old Wanderer" because it was moved to this location in 1952 after 150 years in downtown Kampen. It's still operational and we had bread from flour ground at the mill. The lighted windmill below is the view at dawn from our room.
Amazing enigneers and strategic thinkers, these Dutch. 580 square miles was reclaimed from the ZuiderZee. 26% of the land in the Netherlands is below sea level.
They made it! resilient travelers already over their jet lag (mostly). We are off today for Harderwijk... main Hanseatic seaport trading city dating from 1200s... when the ZuiderZee was part of the north sea.
From Lage Vuursche we pedaled on through deep forests, mostly winding paths of compacted crushed stone - the middle of nowhere and then suddenly emerging to the high-tech bridge over the freeway and on to the beautiful heather hills south of Hilversum. We have a large airbnb here near the heather hills - our daughters are meeting us - arriving from Orlando this morning (hopefully no run in with Tropical Storm Ernesto in the Atlantic).
With a little planning and a lot of dumb luck we stumbled into some of the most picturesque villages as we made our way toward Hilversum where we will be meeting our daughters for a week of cycling. Maarssen is a village north of Utrecht on the River Vecht - a lovely river with an unlovely-sounding name at least to English-speakers sounding like someone with lung congestion trying to catch a breath...
After a leisurely and enjoyable week in Haarlem, we headed our bikes south for a meandering route in the general direction of Hilversum. With plenty of time and not many miles to cover we were free to explore the area. One truth was driven home... touring cyclists can pedal for hours and cover many kilometers without ill effects.
After Geithoorn we were back in Haarlem, enjoying being car-free and care-free, discovering and rediscovering favorite places and visiting with old friends. Willy was in town from Provence, and old Brit friends Ann and David Lynch from our years in Munich came to visit. They rented bikes and we all enjoyed exploring this little bit of cycling paradise.
