Day 6 - Delft and We begin a coastal adventure - Planned Spontaneity

June 27, 2018

Day 6 - Delft and We begin a coastal adventure

We begin island hopping the outer edge of the Rhine delta

Marvin speaking: Looking at the maps of today and tomorrow's rides is really pretty impressive as we cross the outer edge of the huge delta of the Rhine river. Today's map has an anomaly as the GPS somehow lost it's way for quite a few kilometers and so it shows our progress between 2 points as a straight line as though we were flying on our bikes. Our bikes registered 58 km even without the 6 km ferry ride in the track below.

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Now to Erika's narrative:

Well, I am starting to appreciate why Steve is so dedicated to writing his blog every evening. So much fills each cycling day that if you miss a day there is a good chance you will forget things. So it is for me. Yesterday by the time we had set up camp, I was tired and quickly hit the land of nod. Today was a wonderful busy day and that is what I will focus on. Hopefully, when we get a decent internet connection, Marvin will be able to load all the pictures and help us fill in yesterday.

Today started with what sounded like a dove with a hoarse throat making a lot of noise. I told Marvin that it seemed to me that the dove seems to be like the bass of the bird choir. While all the other birds are trilling up and down the scale, the poor old dove seems to have just a couple of notes it keeps repeating. Marvin was quick to defend those who sing bass but I was not convinced.

Striking camp went smoothly for us as we have done it so many times and now Marvin is also developing a routine for organizing the gear onto the bikes. Just before leaving camp I got chatting with a fellow from Australia, Wally. He was bike touring with his wife using a trailer for their gear. He stated he found Holland too urban for his liking. He then, generously, gave me the knooppunten maps he has purchased as they planned on leaving Holland and didn’t think they would use them. The price of 25+ euros was still on the package. A generous gift we were thrilled to get!

We sailed off into Delft with lovely blue skies. In the whole 5 minutes it took us to get into the city center, the sky clouded over. As we entered the main square, complete with beautiful cathedral and impressive city hall, I noticed right next to the cathedral was a lovely chocolate café. Now if that isn’t divine guidance I don’t know what is!!!

The shop CHCO Chocolate Company specializes in multiple flavors of chocolate spoons and chocolate fondue. Now, technically, we were stopping for breakfast. In a rather pathetic attempt at being kind of healthy, we each chose to enjoy a slice of Dutch apple tort and an iced hot chocolate for me and a healthy glass of milk for Marvin. The food was delicious, but the real highlight was Eric, the man behind the counter. We greatly enjoyed chatting with him and sharing our enjoyment of Holland. He was very sympathetic of my not having had any chocolate for two days and provided, gratis, a small supply to keep me going. By the time we left, pictures had been taken and hugs all around.

We opted not to pay 5 euros for a tour of the cathedral but did poke around some of the shops that were selling the well-known Delft blue china. Fortunately, the pieces I liked were all far to big for panniers, so I saved us a lot of money. 😉

We headed west and, despite having worked out our route the night before, did do some noodling around when not all the needed signs were evident. However, we really can’t complain as we went through some beautiful neighborhoods and farm lands.

Around lunch time we entered the town of De Lier. It was lovely. We decided to pick up some groceries, as our food bag was empty. Marvin also was pleased to have found a nice bakery. I was pleased that next to the nice bakery was a nice goldsmith! We both got what we wanted but mine was much smaller and easier to transport!!

We continued north until we reached the sea. There Hoek van Holland across to the next arm. The sail was only about 25 minutes but gave us a great view of just a small part of the amazing dock yards and shipping that defines Rotterdam. Once dropped off we headed of having a great time with the ever present wind at our backs! We just flew along.

Some of the areas we went through included beautiful nature reserves. We are constantly impressed with the large variety of waterfowl and the immense variety of wild flowers. Every colour and every size and shape of flower seems to grow here but we have not seen any dandelions. At home they are so common that we were surprised. Are they not common here?

We cycled through to the town of Hellevoestus where we are once again camping. It is quite lovely and, aside from our snoring neighbor, very lush and peaceful.

Tomorrow we plan on a slightly longer day in the saddle as we are a bit concerned about getting to Leuven on time. So many interesting distractions to see. We are planning to cycle to Middelburg. Unfortunately, due to the flakiness of the internet, we have not been able to find accommodation, so we will move on in faith and look for somewhere tomorrow.

Pictures for the day:

Wally from Australia who gave us the maps.

Delft was very close to the campsite, so a short ride into town

Erika is thinking "This is a breakfast place, isn't it?"

Look Matt, they even have a knooppunten system for rollerbladers

A long pile of sand has been laid down where they are building a new path

We managed to find a little bit of shade for lunch. The day was hot so shade was a premium

We are approaching the port area where we will be ferrying across the first of several parts of the Rhine river mouth

I zoomed in on this while we were waiting for the ferry

Ferries are great places to meet new friends

Off the ferry, we follow the sea wall for a while. There was lots of wind but more behind us than in front

Lots of flowers growing wild in the boulevards

Bench of the day. Out of the wind and a peek of the inner waterway

Erika slowed right down and tried to make friends with these horses

We were trying to figure out what kind of fruit or nut this might be

Here we are installed in our lovely camping spot. It was so very grassy and soft

Erika had to get a picture of this spider. So green!

Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 302 km (188 miles)

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