July 22, 2013
Day 4: Ijmuiden to near Den Oever
We did an early start, to take advantage of the morning cool. We joined many local cyclists on the paths, perhaps as they made their way to work. A free ferry zipped us and many of them across an arm of the sea. Ferries like this in Europe are either free of just a Euro or two. Very quickly we were heading north among the sand dunes just in from the dikes and the North Sea. Quickly too we could experience the peace and beauty of the area, which is a national preserve.
The area behind the dike featured fresh water ponds, and with them many water birds. Flowers grew by the path, and since parts are used for grazing, we met cows and sheep as well. The cows are a long horned variety that look very fierce. In fact they are not, and could be approached easily while they were cooling off in their pool.
With the sunny but cool morning environment, we were really enjoying ourselves. We followed the LF1b - the North Sea route, which runs along the coast. We took two decisions as we cruised along. The first was not to keep going up to the Texel and the northern islands, which we surmised would be just more dunes like we were in already. With dunes, it's kind of seen one, seen them all. The seconnd decision was to detour slightly and go to Alkmaar, which is a little bit inland. We had fond memories of narrow streets and cheese shops there.
We passed by a grocery, and Dodie again parked me outside. This time we just feel completely uunwilling to leave and risk our bikes anywhere. I shared my hitching post with a small black spaniel, and we both waited patiently.
There were some apartments above the store and they had their mail slots on a wall near where my bike rested on its stand. An elderly couple approached and let me know that I could not park in front of the mail slots, in case the postman should come. When I pointed out that I would not be there long and in fact was not parking but only waiting, they pleasantly withdrew. I only mention this because it seems to be forming a bit of a puzzling pattern. Locals, who careen wildly on the paths on bikes and fast moving scooters take time to remind us to do hand signals - which they never, ever do. And we were reminded not to cycle on the no cycling streets in Amsterdam, despite lots of evidence that many people do. Finally, a man in the shower room informed me that if I push the button the shower will run for five minutes, but cautioned against pushing it twice. I have no idea why people take it upon themselves to quote silly regulations to us, when they themselves completely ignore them.
Following signs near Alkmaar for the "centrum", we passed by large buildings and large roads, completely out of keeping with the quaint town we thought we remembered. Different signs seemed to have different opinions about what or where the "centrum" is. After going in circles, as our blog title suggests, for a while , we just gave up and resumed our northward trek.
Alkmaar marks a turning point in the day, because now the temperature climbed into the 30's and our way was through open farmland or beside the dyke. A headwind did nothing to cool us, but only made us work harder, and hotter.
One break did come when we ran into a pancake house/ ice cream parlor. This is what in Germany and Austria is an ëiscafe" and this one was right up to standard. We split a concoction that had casis sherbet, banana ice cream, vanilla ice cream, grapes, and pineapple. The quality was really number one. Even better was the washroom sink, where I could splash water on my face. The cool water, though, helped me realize how truly hot I was. We refilled our water bottles too. We are carrying six litres, which is enough for only a couple of hours in these conditions.
Having decided to head for Den Oever, the start of the 30 km Afsluitdyke, we set out across the peninsula that comprises North Holland. Again in memory, there should have been scads of houses so cute you wanted to photograph each one, and slews of windmills. There were houses and windmills, but not in the number or quality that I expected. When we find good wifi we will have to go check our own blog to see where it was that we recorded all this wonderful stuff last year!
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Our idea was to camp near Den Oever, so we could make our assault on the dyke crossing really early. However, by mid-afternoon we were both beat. In fact, Dodie declared she needed to stop now - that is, right now! I pointed to a sign with an arrow for a camping, and we followed that. Only thing, the way led down a full sun exposed bikeway by a road, and it seemed to go on forever. Oh great, I thought, the sign had be indicating something 15 km away, at the beach maybe. There was no option but to soldier on, and I wondered what Dodie would do. There was no use bonking by the side of the path, in the broiling sun, but maybe if she also could not go forward it would be a tough situation.
Dodie did go forward, and at length we came to the camping - our favouurite type - on a farm. The lady led us to a large and very shady/grassy spot, which we had to ourselves. We put down a ground sheet and collapsed. After an hour we roused enough to decide we had to collapse again. Now, three hours later we are enjoying one of the many amenities of this place - a dark room in a barn, with comfy chairs, a TV, and most importantly lights and electrical outlets. The wifi that the farmer seems to think he has is too weak to be usable. Fortunately, by the time you read about the problem, by definition it will have been solved, else you would not be reading it!
So here we are, quite far from the dyke, but still plannning our assault for tomorrow. Last year, despite having read lots of warnings about heavy winds and weather, we just sailed easily across. Hopefully this year will be the same. After we cross, we will be out of Holland, though of course still in Netherlands. We will have seen wonderful Amsterdam, but somehow missed much of the rural scenery that so impressed us last year. We have oodles of great touring still to do, but it will be sad to leave Holland. Surely we will be back, and soon!
Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 156 km (97 miles)
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