Sneek to Harlingen: into the wind

April 28, 2012

WEATHER: rain and showers, strong HEADWIND!!

The weather changed overnight, and it was raining hard when we started off after a breakfast in the dark hotel restaurant. We quickly found the cycle path to Bolsward on the northern outskirts of Sneek. The wind had shifted to the north and in places was blowing rain straight into our faces, but it was not too strong at this point. Even though picturesque Bolsward, one of the Elfstedentocht towns, was only about 10 km from Sneek, we decided to take a break from the rain there in a cafe on the main street. We stopped dripping and dried out a bit while enjoying coffee and apple pie in the warm room, and by the time we were ready to go again the rain had stopped.

This was good, but the wind had intensified and we rode the remaining 21 kilometres to Harlingen against an awful headwind. The rural scenery was not particularly noteworthy (or if it was we couldn't tell because we had our heads down) especially under the threatening grey skies. Pedalling against the wind was very hard work, and even though the ride had been short, we were tired when we reached Harlingen at about 1:00. Harlingen lies 10 km north of the Afsluitdijk, and is the only one of the old Frisian ports still on the North Sea. Ferries leave from here for the northern islands of Terschelling and Vlieland. The main street of town was hopping with people on this Saturday afternoon, the first day of the long Queens Day weekend and the start of a week's school holiday. We were happy to find window seats at Wally's deli/cafe, and took refuge from the wind with hot chicken sandwiches and caffé macchiatos.

After lunch we pedalled two blocks to the B&B, Het Kapiteinshuis, a historic wooden house dating from the 17th century. Our room was in a bright ground-floor addition at the back of the house opening onto an enclosed garden courtyard where we could park our bikes. The room was very comfortable and quirkily decorated. The only disadvantage was that we couldn't access the wifi connection, so Al would not be able to check out our route for tomorrow on Google Earth. More rain showers and the howling wind kept us indoors for the rest of the afternoon.

The bikes safely parked in the courtyard outside our room.

In the evening we ventured out with our umbrellas, planning to take a stroll around the scenic harbour front before dinner, but we were no match for the gale coming off the North Sea, and we looked for a restaurant close to the B&B. We found Eetcafe de Twee Broertjes (Two Brothers), and slipped into seats at the last available table. We had a very good lamb chop dinner in jovial company--the restaurant was packed with well behaved family groups. When Al went to pay, he was charged about half of what he had expected, and assumed they had made a mistake. He brought this to the cashier's attention, and she said, 'Oh, tonight is two-for-one night; everything is half price.' This was a very pleasant surprise, and we were amazed that the half price offer included both wine and coffee. No wonder the restaurant was full! There was a sign outside advertising this special, but of course it was in Dutch, so we had missed its significance. We returned to the B&B with a feeling of well-being in spite of the weather, and had a good night's sleep.

Some of the many swans we've seen, but the only blue ones.

Today's ride: 31 km (19 miles)
Total: 457 km (284 miles)

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