August 13, 2023
Day 24: To Gouda and back
Lethargy shuffled in as we unpacked into our farmstay accommodation last night. Knowing we were here for a few days, breaking the ride-eat-sleep-repeat routine, does that for us. Journal-writing and dinner were pretty much the accomplishments of the afternoon and evening.
We did manage to decide on a plan for the next two days though. Today – a short afternoon ride to Gouda. Tomorrow, a longer one to Utrecht. For me, this morning is dedicated to laundry. I’m not sure what TL is doing in his comfy chair but it’s sure to be important route-planning stuff. For which he needs headphones and YouTube.
After I’ve refreshed our wardrobe, we’re ready to ride. We woke up to a gloriously sunny early-morning view from our upstairs window, but now we’re heading off in overcast and mildly windy conditions. We retrace yesterday's route back to the outskirts of Gouda, and it’s not far to the pedestrian-only, cobbled old town streets. First though, we find a coffee stop. When you spend all day outdoors riding your bike (well OK, barely an hour in this instance) it’s something of a treat to sit in a spacious indoors cafe. And eat pancakes. And have a second coffee.
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The majestic Stadhuis is our ultimate destination and we can’t miss it as we head towards the market square. Built in 1450, it’s the oldest Gothic town hall building in the Netherlands. I love its dimensions; it seems almost compact in comparison to some of the sprawling churches we’ve come across in our travels here.
We’re exploring inside so miss the mechanical puppet show that accompanies the carillon on the half hour. Performing wedding ceremonies is an important function of the town hall, it seems, and it’s well set up for this – with a hall for the ceremony as well as a basement reception room with enough sound gear to blow any ancient cobwebs out. As well as the wedding hall, there are the council chambers, the mayoral office and other well-proportioned rooms. Bruce is excited to share a teaching moment with me. Tenon joints, who knew?
Gouda, of course, is the home of those very famous, very nice rounds of cheese, so why not visit the Gouda cheese museum? We enjoyed learning about the history of cheese-making in Alkmaar the other day. It’s a fairly simple operation, isn’t it? Do we need to repeat the experience? We thought not.
The last task is a visit to Jumbo, my favourite Dutch supermarket, to top up supplies for the next couple of days. Job done, we wend our leisurely way home to the farm. We’ll do better tomorrow, I promise.
PS: My American friend Toni commented on yesterday's journal that, while in The Hague, we had to go see the painting 'The Goldfinch'. We didn't Toni, I'm sorry, but I now know the tragic story of that painting and of its creator, Carel Fabritius. And I'm making good use of my leisure time by reading Donna Tartt's fictionalisation of that story. Fascinating!
Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 1,229 km (763 miles)
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Looking forward to seeing Utrecht, which was in our plan two years go until we bailed on the Netherlands because we weren’t sure we could cross into Germany from there due to Covid.
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