Day 35: Biesbosch

September 13, 2024

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This was for us one of the rare times when we scheduled an extra night's stay in a given place. Our idea here was to cycle all over the Biesbosch park, hoping to spot some of the birds for which it is famous. Since it is a park, plus it is in Netherlands, the place is riddled with bike ways We ended by spinning around 60 km of these paths, while never threatening to go to or see everything!

No end of safe and interesting paths in Biesbosch.

After being blasted with rain yesterday, we were leery of bad weather that could affect our special day. I went outside the hotel and shot the first thing on offer -some stored boats - but mostly the reassuringly blue sky. The other matter was the temperature. Our phone had it as 8, or even 6 degrees, so we put on some extra clothes. But the reality turned out to be more like 12, so the extra stuff soon came off.

The Biesbosch is shot through with waterways, large and small. Here is one of our first impressions of one of them.

And yes, there are birds all over the place, though admittedly most were a bit distant and/or rather familiar.

Ok, a European Starling is still a bird!

And we often see Gray Herons, but we love them.

Not every interesting creature is a bird!

Biesbosch is a National Park, but that seems to have a different meaning here than the one in use in Canada. In Canada (in the past and presumably still) a national park is subject to strict development regulations and is administered by a federal department. There are townsites and some other developments in a park, but outside the boundaries of these every square inch is held in sacred trust for the animals and for the future. Here, by contrast, there were houses and businesses and farms all over the place, so we could not really make out what was the true national park bit.

One of the consequences was that we still got to look at interesting general Dutch stuff, like for instance the small and neat houses. It's unique that the Dutch people, who are on average so tall, squeeze into boxes so small. (These small boxes are often associated with huge barns, however.)

This is one of our favourite house shots.

But Dodie points out that this thatched one has eyes. It seems rather sleepy, I think.

We continued along bike path by water, as shown below. But we were not entirely wandering at random. As mentioned yesterday, Dodie rear brakes were not working well, and bleeding seemed the only option. So we needed a bike shop, because the bleed kit is one thing we are not carrying. We spotted two shops in the major town of the park, Werkendam. To get there we set out along the river that seems to be called the Neuwe Merwede, and maybe elsewhere is the Waal, but to me really is the Rhine.

There was a lot of bird activity along the way:

And also, a Water Buffalo. The fellow below does not fit my image of a water buffalo, looking more like a Highland, but water buffalo are famous here, and the photo looks just like postcards we bought locally.

Werkendam is a moderately big place, and even has large ships docked along the ...Rhine.

Of the two shops, we chose the one that looked largest and most "professional" in the Street View to go to first. We had carefully checked opening times and the day of the week, but still we ran into them being on vacation. By the way "Let op" means NB. We most frequently see this on road signs that say "Let op drempels", which simply means "caution, (speed) bumps" . But to our ears it seems more like what you might say to chide one another. So in my ignorance I will say to Dodie: "Let op - drempels!" Stupid, eh?

We went to drown our sorrow about the closed bike shop to Albert Heijn, which is an excellent grocery chain. As usual, I was stashed outside, and observed the scene, as shown below.

I was also stashed beside a Gazelle bike, one of the most common brands here. In a glance I took in its major features - Bosch Active mid drive, Intuvia controller, Schwalbe tires, step through frame, etc., and notably Magura hydraulic rim brakes. I surreptitiously stole a squeeze on the rear lever - yup, that's how it should feel. Dodie's by contrast was scuppered.

With a day or two's supply of goodies purchased, we set off in search of that second bike shop.

Here we are on the High Street of Werkendam. What a low stress place to shop, especially by bike!

We drew up to bike shop #2, and sure enough it looked pretty small. But significantly, it was open!

I went in and found the place staffed by one fellow, who looked very much like a bike mechanic. So I launched into my story about how we were travelling around Europe, with bikes using Magura hydraulic rim brakes, that I had adjusted as much as possible but was getting little braking action, etc. etc. When I took a breath the man seemed to say "No, no", and my sprits started to sink. Surely he meant "no, no" we don't have tools for that. But in fact he was saying "no, no, I don't speak a word of English". Some sign language followed, but mainly the bike spoke for itself. "Luft!" was the diagnosis. The brakes had air in the line. The man invited us then to come around the corner, where the workshop was.

With the help of Google Translate we learned that the man would take on the job, and we should return in 1/2 hour, when it would be done! In the photo below, it is indeed done. The man actually bled both front and rear, and now the brakes are fine! 10 euros!

During our 1/2 hour wait, I insisted on going back to the high street, where I had spotted a bakery. Dodie pointed out that we already had bags of food from Albert Heijn. "Yeah, so what" was my basic attitude.

Outside the bakery we met a cat that was super friendly. I immediately wished I could bring it home. Then while I was in the bakery the cat's owner came along. She explained to Dodie that as a kitten the cat had found her. Yet it was so friendly, it wanted to go with everyone. I took the photo below from inside the bakery, showing Dodie receiving the cat's story.

Here is another kind of Dutch house. The photo shows the detail of the thatch over windows.

We just continued cycling, over the extensive network of paths. The green, the blue waters, the cows, and the NO CARS, is so relaxing.

We did handle one other chore on our ride. We found a post office in a small town and did our first and probably only mail back. I am not sure what the weight was, but I had the stuff in a quite heavy backpack as we rode. It's a given that you always have too much gear when you start a tour.

One thing that escaped the mail back was the Lumix camera. It decided to work again, after having spent more days in purgatory at the bottom of the clothes bag. Maybe it gets bashed about there, shifting what ever seed or schmutz is impeding its functioning. Anyway, it worked today, and so is still with us!

One of the themed cycle routes we read about went from windmill to windmill. We weren't trying to do that, but still we ran into quite a few.

There are different sizes and designs of windmills. Many look like you can live in them.

This perhaps smaller one still looks habitable.

Another themed cycle route covered the "Water Line" which was a 200 km long network of defensive forts and waterworks. The idea was to be able to flood the line, too deep for men and vehicles and too shallow for boats.

This fort in the Water Line is now a luxury BnB

An illustration of the line. Fort Bakkerskill is from 1879, so the line must be an old idea. I don't know if it was ever activated at all.

There is also a line of these WWII bunkers. Was this like the Maginot Line? Were these at all effective?

We continued through the wetlands. Seeing quite a few Grebes, like this one:

As mentioned earlier, there was also farming going on in the area. This colourful photo depends on red onions!

We came to one slightly larger river, which was probably the Maas. It had this nice boat on it.

We got on board, paying 3 euros to the captain ("schipper"). Dodie is not shy about counting out change to pay for things in cash. In this case she laboriously dispensed all kinds of tiny coins, which the captain patiently accepted. In the end, though, she short changed him, running out of coins around €2.97.

On the other side of the river, out marine and bird adventure continued, as we encountered ever more birds.

At last we rolled back up to our hotel. It is rather nice to already know a place and to not have to go through check in, as we normally do every day. This was good, as we were quite tired by the time we arrived. It's possible to get pooped even in a little spin around "home". But we had had a great time, out in the fresh air with the water and birds all around!

Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 1,604 km (996 miles)

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Karen PoretGlad you enjoyed your day and fun adventures! NL can’t be beat.. imho. 😉
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3 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Karen PoretEspecially when on a bike.
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3 months ago