August 24, 2012
We almost get to Arnem: Sorting out the frustrations of navigation
We have found the way to navigate through Holland without getting lost all the time. First you need to go to the VVV, this is the name of the Tourist Information and has a triangular blue flag in front of it with VVV printed in white. There you have to buy the appropriate cycle maps with the route numbers on them. You also get a little card and work out your route on the map – at each change of direction you change your route number. Write all these down in sequence then follow the routes shown; they are on a white sign printed in green. At the end of each mini route the number of that route appears in solid green and you look for the direction to the next end point. You will have a large number of mini routes; we had 22 getting to just past Deventer (about 45km). This all sounds highly complicated but actually once you get used to it it is simple and what is more you don’t get lost, always a plus. There are other signs too and the ‘mushrooms’ with directions on but these are not nearly as reliable. We had been trying to follow the long distance route LF3 but the signs were few and far between.
After Deventer we did not have appropriate maps and spent hours and many km going around in circles , I don’t think it was particularly helped by the fact that I enterer Zorphen into the GSP instead of Zutphen! At one stage we had 6 helpful Dutch cyclists trying to put us on the right track. Eventually we were in Zutphen, found the VVV, spent our life savings on all the maps we will need till we leave Holland and found this very nice B and B – peaceful quiet and with WIFI, though the signal seems very weak so I doubt if I will get photos posted.
Apart from all that boring stuff about route finding we had a lovely day, the temperature was moderate and the wind not as strong as yesterday. A coffee stop at the first little village we came to then on to Deventer. Deventer is a lovely town with a very attractive town center where we tried out the Bakkerji. The baked goodies are absolutely delicious but I must say the coffee is fairly ordinary – never mind what we eat makes up for it. Leaving Deventer was fun as we had to cross the Ijssel River in a dear little ferry, I always love ferries. Our lunch stop was at a point on the river where the allies had crossed in World War 2. Its only problem was the number of wasps and I ended up being stung. We sat and talked to a couple about our age out on a day ride. They were about 40km from home and were well equipped with electric bikes. It seems to be a status thing to have an electric bike and anyone passed the first flush of youth seems to ride one. We were told they have a range of about 80km. I hope this is the reason that Dutch people always pass us and we have only ever passed 1 Dutch cyclist! The other thing that intrigues us is the number of disability scooters. I had always thought that Mosgiel (in Otago NZ) was disability scooter capital of the world but it is clearly not. Every part of Holland we have been to has it beaten hands down. It seems to be that once your physical condition means you can no longer ride a bike you leap on a disability scooter. Perhaps in latter years when Ken and I can no longer ride bikes we can travel Europe by disability scooter
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Today's ride: 82 km (51 miles)
Total: 1,171 km (727 miles)
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