A boat/bike tour of The Netherlands? What are 2 high altitude road bikers doing on a flat road, short daily distance, below sea level excursion? We were meeting up with many of the folks we met on the 2014 Coast to Coast ride. One couple on the C2C ride is from The Netherlands. Hetty suggested that we all meet in her country for a tour. 25 of us took her up on the offer. With friends and family we were became a close group of 31. The concept of sleeping dining and drinking on a barge and biking all day is certainly appealing. While we all loved the C2C experience, none of us were voting for camping for this tour.
Day One
It’s a long, overnight flight to Amsterdam. I should have realized that 45 minutes is not enough time to get from a domestic terminal to the international terminal at Dulles. It did give us a chance to stretch our legs at sprint speed. It was surprising easy to get from the airport to our hotel via train and taxi. The Westcord Art hotel has original modern art work everywhere including the entire wall behind the bed. John slept in the lobby while I explored the street and found the grocery store.
Later I met the group for a tour of the Rijks Museum. John was still jet lagged. Quite the museum including, of course, Rembrandt’s painting, “The Night Watchman”. I took pictures from the furniture section for John.
Day Two
We met the group again for a walking tour of Amsterdam. I’m fascinated with architectural history. This was my kind of tour with perfectly preserved buildings from the early 1600’s adjacent to modern sculpture.
Our hosts are standing with the statues representing “The Night Watchmen”. After lunch in one of the oldest buildings in Amsterdam we made our way to the boat, The Fluvius. Accommodations were quite comfortable. The chef prepared 4 course meals every night. We all enjoyed catching up with each other over drinks in the lounge.
Day Three, Amsterdam to Zaandam
The crew offloaded the bikes and we were each assigned one. 7 gears were more than adequate since the biggest inclines were the bridges. The tour guide lead and Hetti and her husband John rode sweep at the back of the line of 31 bicyclists. 9mph was plenty fast to try to keep all of us together. I knew that the Dutch rode bicycles but was still surprised by the number and quality of the bike paths and lanes. On any day, we might be on 10 to 15 bike routes each marked with numbers. No pictures from this day as I was concentrating on not hitting the bike in front of me. John’s video includes segments from every day.
Day Four, Zaandam to Alkmar
This is the heart of the old windmill country. They are beautiful and quite complex. Not only were they used to pump water out of the land that they claimed from the sea but they were also used to grind chalk and grain and run all sorts of machinery including saws. In some places we could see the 17th century windmills in the foreground and the modern ones in the background.
Day Five, Alkmar to Den Helden
We biked by the sea. It’s strange to be on a dike and see the water on one side higher that the houses and towns on the other side. It was our third day on a bike and we had yet to see any house, public building or even a shed that wasn’t perfectly painted and maintained, windows were always spotless and there were no weeds. I began to wonder if The Netherlands has some sort of national HOA.
I thought of all the sights Hetti and John saw in the USA and the trash on the roads and was embarrassed for our country. Really, we can, and should do better as a nation to spruce things up a bit.
Day Six, Den Helden to Texel
Texel is a Dutch island in the North Sea just off the coast of the mainland. We were treated to a tour of the beachcomber’s museum. Hey if Kansas can have a museum dedicated to barbed wire The Netherlands can have a museum for junk found on beaches. Our group posed for pictures on the West and East coasts of the island so we could boast that this group now has accomplished C2C biking in two countries.
We enjoyed a few hours walking on the beach and actually got to watch a surfing class. Let’s just say I don’t think they’re going to be ready for Southern California’s surfing coast any time soon.
We ended the day at the Texel brewery. Excellent beer. Too bad it’s only available in Holland.
Day Seven, Texel via ferry to Mememblik to Enkhuizen
We started the ride with a stop at the steam museum. I was hoping for a description of the cultural changes that steam brought such as the phasing out of windmills. This was more of a motor head tour with detailed explanations of the inner working of steam engines. Back to biking though more beautiful countryside. We could see the Fluvius motoring to Enkhuizen.
Day Eight, Enkhuizen through Hoorn, Edam to Volendam
Hoorn is an old harbor town. Edam, yes, as in the cheese.
We had some time to walk through both of these old cities. The tiny draw bridges are still operational.
I can imagine that they were built to fit a single horse drawn cart. Somehow now I could see a car, several pedestrians and a few bikes all crossing at once. We were treated to a small open electric boat tour of the smaller canals through farm land and towns. The boatman showed us that the farmland is actually floating. He jumped and the land bounced.
Day Nine, Volendam to Monnickadam to Amsterdam
In Monnickadam we toured the clock tower and were treated to a tour of the inner workings of the tower. The English speaking guide explained the layers of pottery and other artifacts that were found in a cesspit. They were from 4 centuries. I was certainly glad that our boat is on the north side of Amsterdam, a ferry ride away from the Central Station. Traffic, especially bike traffic in the city is quite intense.
Day Ten, Amsterdam
We were free to wander the city. Just north of the boat dock we discovered an open air market set up in the street in a working class immigrant neighborhood. Everything from raw herring to hair dye was available. From there we took a tour by boat through the canals. There were old buildings, the new ship-shaped science museum [?], canal bridges and this tenacious duck who managed to make a nest on the fins of a small boat.
Day 11, The long flight home
It’s good to be home. We feel so very blessed to have been able to do this trip and reconnect with our 2014 C2C friends. Thank you Hetti for arranging this wonderful boat/bike tour.