We have struggled a bit with doing the route we had planned to do since staying in Hertogenbosch. It is frustrating that accommodation prices have really shot up….most likely because we are closer to bigger cities and also due to the coming summer season. The other problem is there are fewer Vrienden op de Fiets hosts in the areas where we are looking. So for a complete change of routine, we are no longer trying to find accomodation that fits our route, instead we are looking at accomodation that suits us and then we make up a route. The reason this works so well for us is that we love most anywhere we go in Holland, so why feel tied to a route.
Originally we had planned to go to Dordrecht but it didn’t work out. As we did more research we rethought our priorities and realized that smaller communities off the beaten track suit us best. And that is how we discovered Ooltgensplaat.
We discovered a special place in visiting Ooltgensplaat as it seems that it is generally not on the route of foreign travellers. The ceramic murals pictured here are on the wall at the harbour which is directly in front of where we stayed.
Our plan is to take a ferry half way up the island to get back to the mainland of Holland. It would be closer to return via the bridge, but we want to explore more of the island.
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What lovely haircuts these two have had. Looking good.
We have arrived at the “ferry terminal” but it doesn’t look promising. We haven’t been able to find any info about the ferry online. We just noticed that it doesn’t run until July and chances are our bike would not be welcome anyway. Guess that means we have to backtrack and take the bridge after all.
And thankfully, we came upon a bike store. We have been increasingly concerned about the wear on the front tire. It may be a challenge finding the size of tire we need. We love bike shops that recognize that we are on a trip and will help us right away. Peter the owner and his mechanic were very eager to help us. In no time at all they had mounted a new tire for us.
The bike shop was great. At first Peter had trouble finding a 26” tire that was suitable. Many of the bikes here use larger wheels. And then, he found a 26” Schwalbe tire designed for a cargo bike…and he suggested that we get the Schwalbe Pick Up.
This robust heavy tire is something we would not normally consider. We usually ride with Schwalbe Marathon on the front and Schwalbe Mondial on the rear. Nonetheless, we are very happy with this tire. It is tough and able to manage the load of our bike and the cobbles.
