September 11, 2012
Day 115: Katwijk to Brielle, Netherlands
We enjoyed a warm and dry breakfast with Juul, and packed up our stuff under cover in his back yard. Juul then walked us to the end of the lane and we said our goodbyes. Goodbyes are tough any time, but there was no way to tell when we we would ever see Juul again. There is nothing for it but to turn your back and just start pedalling.
Pedalling, though, was not exactly easy. The weather started out with light rain and a headwind, but then upped the ante to heavy rain and a heavy headwind. We put on our rain gear and plowed through it. We are strong now (sort of) and weather like this only succeeds in making us stronger. (Brave words - actually it was not too long before we had to fuel up with some cookies to maintain the effort).
The weather then went into a routine we have seen too often - it pretends to clear, so that you take off and pack away your stuff, and then it closes in again. Then it repeats the whole act.
With this going on, we had headed back to the dunes, south of Katwijk, and were aiming for the strangely named Hoek van Holland (Hook of Holland), which is on the edge of the waterway that leads from the sea to Rotterdam. We could have cut a corner and bypassed Hoek, going instead through Delft, but we preferred to battle winds on the coast rather than battling signage to get through an urban area.
Some urbanized bits did still stand in our way - Scheveningen, parts of the Hague, and the greenhouse covered Westland. Some of this port area seemed a bit sketchy, but it was ok. On the other hand, this Holland with the dunes and the cityscapes is nothing like the Holland of the north, nor is it at all like Gelderland, Flevoland, or Freysland. Frankly, we prefer all of those to this area.
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We crossed the waterway on a ferry (for 1.20 each) at Massluis (to Rozenburg)and made our way to Brielle. We especially chose to come by Brielle because Juul had flagged it as a pretty town, and a historic one. Pretty it is, with suitably narrow streets, huddled buildings, and lots of shops. Just like Enkhuizen, it is surrounded by a canal, and has several canals and a harbour within that.
The history stems from 1672, when the town was captured from the Spaniards during the eighty Years' War (JGI). The Dutch seem to have been celebrating that since, and have a Naval Heroes Gallery in the local museum.
The cycling node map showed camping somewhere nearby, but we could spot no signs for it. After asking directions, we did finally see one sign. The camping was worth searching for. Out spot is quiet, secluded, and near a well appointed shower block. There is a large bike shelter, with plugs for e-bikes. We are using one of those plugs to charge the computer. The cost was relatively low, at 11.50 and 2.50 for unlimited internet.
There are six little cottages you can rent, too, just beside where our tent is. Had we seen them in time, we might have gone for one. On the other hand, the balcony of one has donated a chair that I am sitting on, typing this under the bike shelter. All in all, it's very satisfactory.
While at Juul's, I moved some more episodes of Big Bang Theory into the cell phone. So tonight we can relax, watching "new" TV material. Tomorrow we head into Zeeland, the area of islands and dikes south west of Amsterdam along the North Sea. It looks very interesting on a map and we are looking forward to what we will actually find there.
Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 6,030 km (3,745 miles)
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