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WEATHER: rain at first with headwind, then clouds and sun with crosswind.

We left Edam in light rain, which soon turned into a downpour. This lasted about a half hour, before changing back to intermittent showers. We knew that today's route mostly passed along canals and polders, and the few settlements in the countryside were tiny and did not offer many lunch possibilities. Also many businesses are closed on Monday reducing our options even more. We were relieved to finally find a hotel bar in Rustenburg, about 12 kilometres before Alkmaar, open for lunch, and we enjoyed vegetarian lasagne (an unusual dish) sitting comfortably inside while two heavy rain showers poured down outside the window.

The rain stopped before we left the restaurant, the sun came out, and the rest of the ride continued along canals, past several working windmills, with glimpses of tulip fields off to the south. We were on a good bike path for the last few kilometres, and then after negotiating a busy highway interchange and overpass, we emerged from an bicycle underpass to a winding path that took us near more windmills and allotments on the north outskirts of Alkmaar. We had to wait for a boat to go under a raised drawbridge near the centre of the quite busy downtown, before we got to the train station and our hotel, Stad en Land, across the street.

Al's stomach was bothering him and Eva was sneezing with a scratchy throat, so neither of us were feeling completely chipper at this point (That's why there are no photos for today--we didn't have much energy for using our cameras.) We rested awhile in our room and then walked through the old section of town, once again picturesque with its canals and medieval building. Alkmaar is one of the oldest towns in the Netherlands, and the traditional cheese market, held every Friday morning from April to October is a popular tourist attraction. This Monday evening was very quiet and peaceful (nice!) since many of the businesses were closed. We had seafood salads and desserts at at a canal-side fish restaurant, and then returned to the hotel for an early night.

Eva took a decongestant and slept like a log, while poor Al woke up with a start after midnight and was up and down to the bathroom for the rest of the night. He was clearly suffering from a bout of food poisoning, and got hardly any sleep.