August 3, 2023
Day 13: Holwierde to Anjum
Weather forecasting apps suggest that today could be even more challenging than the past few days. My phone gives us a window of a few dry hours this morning while Bruce’s suggests that the wind will pick up to over 35 km/hour this afternoon. After three days of enduring whatever Mother Nature feels like throwing at us, we’re resigned to another exhausting and wet day in the saddle.
Breakfast is delivered to our room by our lovely hosts promptly at 8am, though we’re already dressed and loading our bikes up. They - the bikes - have spent the night just downstairs in the barn, not too far from Miles and Murphy, making access easy this morning. Bruce has already pumped up tyres and put his kickstand back on (it’s been chauffeured around since the crankset issue on the Rhine path) by the time we eat.
We’ve obviously decided to make use of the dry-but-windy window to get a head-start on what could be an 80 km route. By 8.45 we’re cycling down the lane, turning left on the Dijkweg towards the coast. In moments, we have climbed onto the dyke wall and are facing a great body of water – the Bight of Watum, Strava now tells me. It’s quite a sight.
We continue along the bike path, bemused by the number of sheep who stare us down as we invade their territory. They are fortunate animals. They have more than enough grazing so seem to spend most of their time clumped along the path in groups, resting from their eating endeavours. Unlike back home, their tails aren’t docked and they seem to have plenty of attitude – not at all sheepish.
The wind has shifted to the south-east. Hooray! Unbelievably, we’re moving at over 20 km/hour. We’re keen to make use of this change in fortune before the rain, which is due at 11am, so there’s no stopping and looking for coffee, Tour Leader. Right on cue the first spits appear as we reach the 30km mark. We take shelter under a fuel station canopy to put on rain jackets and to ask Mrs Google about coffee shops further up the line. We know that we will be riding in the rain for the rest of the day so it’s important to have something to look forward to.
Our spirits are high, given that we still have the wind behind us. This makes all the difference; we’re making great progress – what’s a little wet against that? We’re just inland from the coast now, heading west and Bruce is making a few judicious tweaks to the route to keep the mileage down. Ride With GPS sometimes likes to detour through small villages, taking us off perfectly good paths in favour of dormitory suburbs with no cafés. Where’s the logic in that?
We do cycle through the village of Leen though and I remember Mrs Google mentioning a bakery-café here as we were putting on rain jackets. By now, we are both wet through. Bakkerij Peters looms up as we turn over 50km, just a few minutes before noon. Perfectly timed!
Thirty minutes, two cheese rolls, three cups of coffee, an apple juice and two delectable pastries later, we can delay no longer. The bakery staff wish us well and we continue onwards in order to work off lunch’s excesses.
The next wee village has been decorated in a wild west theme. Every house on the main street is dressed in bunting and has proclaimed itself to be the saloon, or the sheriff, or rifle range. The bedraggled flags and signage are not at all festive. I hope the rain stops in time for their special occasion.
We turn northwards, into what looks to be a summer resort.. a deserted summer resort, that is, because the guest of honour hasn’t yet turned up. There’s a boat harbour and many empty campgrounds and restaurants. This takes us to the huge bridge and causeway crossing the Lauwersmeer estuary – which is also the border between Groningen and Friesland provinces. We stop here for final photos, because we know our destination is just down the road.
Finally, we pull into the courtyard of the Hotel-Restaurant Toxopeus. We’re dripping wet but well short of the official check-in time. The staff aren’t fazed at all. Our room is ready and we’re discussing arrangements for the bikes when a head pops out from a guest room and greets us the Kiwi way: “Kia ora!”.
We feel right at home.
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Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 722 km (448 miles)
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