September 9, 2012
Day 113: Egmond to Katwijk, Netherlands: Never on Sunday (should you cycle near the beaches of Amsterdam)
The morning brought a heavy fog and dew, and though it had not rained the tent fly was soaked inside and out, as was the tent floor and footprint. We tried drying it all a bit, but as we were stuck in the middle of a plain patch of wet grass it was futile.
On the way out we clocked the trek to the washroom at ¼ km, so any round trip in the night would have been ½ km, assuming one did not get lost in the dark along the way. If you forgot your paper, as one of us did, you can double that to 1 km. Well, what can you expect for 15 euros?
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Our way immediately lead along sand dunes that front the North sea in this area. A couple of times we climbed some stairways hoping to get a look at the sea, but all there was was more sand. I guess we were not in to any further 1/4km hikes, so we just pedalled on. This did not stop a constant stream of local people, who arrived on their bikes and set off in the direction of the sea, carrying beach umbrellas.
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The beach people were joined on the path by Sunday racers – usually men, in full lycra suits, blasting along between the babies in bike carriers and old heavily loaded Grampies at breakneck speed. We tried to think of the best places to hide in Europe on a Sunday, to beat the lack of food and swarms of people. Church, was the closest we could come.
Our trek down the coast landed us in Wijk am Zee, which turned out from the very little we saw to be a beach zoo. Where we hit town, hundreds of cars were parked in a large field, and only by asking did we learn that this was beach overflow.
As we headed (following the LF1A) a bit inland, we looked at a long line of jammed up cars, trying to reach the jammed overflow parking. Out attention to this was distracted, though, by the heavy flow of approaching cyclists, also heading for the beach. These cyclists rode often in twos and sometimes in threes. There was no use trying to play chicken with them, so they would return to single file. They simply don’t think this way. Rather, they would flit by, with one inch to spare – mirror to mirror – no problem!
Now we reached the wide canal that connects Amsterdam to the sea. The LF1A put us right onto a free ferry that hopped across, very efficiently. Dodie counted six cars and 50 bikes on our crossing.
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On the other side, we began to look for a bench where we could eat lunch. A shady one would be nice, and we had another requirement – a place to dry the tent components. As we have noticed elsewere in Netherlands, there is relatively little pubic space, and any bench, let alone shady, with sunny integral tent drying racks, was a scarce commodity. We finally settled on a sunny bench that we could use for the tent. There was some shady long grass – that would have to be for us. Our thanks go out again to Tricia Graham for suggesting that we bring tripod stools on this trip. Without them, there would be no lunch in the long grass for us!
Our stealthy bright orange tent fly attracts the attention of the stream of passing cyclists. If this were not Sunday, I guess we could be selling them ice lollies, or something!
We now entered a part of Holland that does not form part of the standard stereotype. Along the coast from the Noorzee Kanal southward there are sand dunes. These are much like those along the Oregon coast, and extend up to several kilometres inland. The dunes play the same role as dikes and are essential to the defence against the sea. In a few places where dunes do not exist, dikes have been built.
Of course, as is typical for us, we had little idea of what was coming. We passed into one or more national park or preserve areas, forested at first, and then all dunes. Through these areas were cycle paths, with lots and lots of people charging purposively around. The people really seemed to be going somewhere, but what was out here to attract their attention. Surely it was not the national park stuff, though we did see a group, for instance, seemingly staring at some trees and receiving a lecture about it. Dodie thought maybe an animal had chewed or scratched the bark, causing the interest.
We continued through the desert of dunes, which you can see on the map as the white space north of the yellow road at Zandvoot. People swarmed through the area – including young and old and the always there crazy racers in lycra.
Finally we discovered what it was all about. We came out to a low bluff above the sea and discovered thousands of parked bicycles, plus parked mopeds. Below, the beach was covered with people. But the scary part was to sight down the beach and see what would be about 15 km of more of the same!
Golly, the whole population of Amsterdam and Haarlem must have been out there. We carried on, dodging people, bikes, motorcycles, and cars. Every ½ km there would be a stand selling various types of deep fried fish balls. The density seemed to increase, and one or two gas stations and apartment buildings popped up. Then suddently a switch seemed to be flicked, and the development and crowds disappeared. We then reentered a desert of dunes, though still with people cycling to or from the centre of the “hive”.
In the desert, we were glad that we had basically enough water, because there were no services at all. You can see this area on the map where the yellow road stops and the white begins, south of Haarlem.
Our target for the day was Katwijk, and we had a special reason for that. Last year, in Weyburn Saskachewan, we met Juul, who was also cycling across Canada. Juul, like us, was trapped in a motel by extreme flooding. You can peek back one year by clicking here. For only a few days our paths coincided, but then we arranged to meet again in Montreal. Juul is from Netherlands – Katwijk – but had cycled all over the world, with his first trip being about 30 years ago. In a restaurant in Saskachewan, I naively asked him the difference between Netherlands and Holland, and he patiently explained. Well, one day, we said, we would come and see it for ourselves, and find Juul in Holland. Today was that day!
Before Katwijk we passed through Noordwijk, again not our typical image, being composed seemingly of large hotels. At last we reached Katwijk, which is actually Katwijk am Rhin. So we had returned in some sense to the river we had first met at Basel, though after Arnhem the river becomes a complicated delta and takes on various names. Following Juul’s directions and the GPS too, we made our way to his place toward the centre of town. That is, we almost made our way. In fact we sailed past his house and only turned back as we heard him calling.
Seeing Juul again was really nice. Only a year had passed, so it was easily just like “old times”. Also really nice was being able to put our bikes in a garage, and our bags inside a real house. Finally Juul took us to a Chinese restaurant down the street. Juul has lived here for about 30 years, and the restaurant has always been here. Juul has watched the daughter of the restauranteur's family grow up, and this daughter served us this evening. She just brought us a selection of dishes, and each was wonderful. That is not (just) hungry cyclist talking, this was a really high quality restaurant.
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Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 5,957 km (3,699 miles)
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