Amsterdam to Friesland and onto Zwolle. June 2014
From Amsterdam we headed out to the coast then North towards Den Helder, then across the Afsluitdijk and to Halingen. From there north following the North Sea to Lauwersoog before going south to Groninger and onwards south the Zwolle.
Day 1. Amsterdam to Bergen
http://www.strava.com/activities/151485481
72km
Headed out of Amsterdam towards the coast and caught our first ferry, and Leah had her first ice cream after 25km iof riding as we waited for the ferry to get across the North Sea canal. As per usual getting out of Amsterdam we made a couple of wrong turns and added a few km, but that was to be expected as we were navigating a little by feel, when we should have been following the maps more closely.
After getting across the canal we headed north arcoss the Dutch farmland and then turned towards the coast and into the dunes and great scenic riding. After a quick detour through Egmond ann Zee, as we could, it was further north following the North Sea dunes to Bergan ann Zee then inland to Bergen and the hotel for the night.
Bergen is a town that if we were not cycling touriong we would not have stopped in at, and we were glad we did. An old town, with the highlight a church in partial ruins.
Day 2. Bergen to Harlingen
http://www.strava.com/activities/151485446
110km
From Bergen we headed back out to the coast and for a surprisingly varied ride up through sand dunes, a National Park, and farm land towards Den Helder. Not really knowing what to expect, this was a bonus as we rode from sand dunes, into low growth wind swept forest and then into farm land all within a few km.
After leaving the coast it was into an ominious headwind to cross the northern North Holland provience to Den Over for a bite for lunch before we tackled the Afsluitdijk. Not recommended in a headwind. This is 30km of perfectly flat, perfectly straight road on the outer dijk that keeps the North Sea at bay. A tough battle as I rode on the front and Leah was tightly tucked in behind me!
Happy to be off the Dijk we headed back up the coast to the old fishing port of Halingen. Founded in 1234, and still an active yachting port for the North Sea, this is one of more scenic small towns we have come across. A perfect sunny evening also helped and we enjoyed a good meal, and couple of glasses of wine in the sunshine.
Continuing north along the coast, the plan was to go up and then cut down into Gronginer. We followed the plan but the route was a little longer than planned at 138km! That is a long day cycle touring and woud normally be better split into two days. We had a hotel booked in Gronginer, so on we went.
The ride north impressed us as we followed the old sea wall. The first sea wall was built here in 1100, and then they have been building walls ever since, and at the same time dealing with floods. To deal with the ever present treat of floods, the first locals built “turns”, essentially a small manmade hill which they could escape onto when it did flood. Somewhere we read they there are 1,100 of these scattered across the northern Netherlands, and we ran across the largest at 8m high, with of course, a church built on top of it. You can see these turns from a ways off as this is where the old town is built.
Into Gronginer, and a nice hotel, but an average town.
Day 4. Gronginer to Zwolle
http://www.strava.com/activities/151485408
140km
From Gronginer it was due south to Zwolle and the train home. We followed a LF route today, and it took us mostly straight, but with a lot of small twists and turns all the way into Zwolle. Today we rode mostly across open farmland, and through scattered bush sections. A very pretty ride and we managed to go on the last hand drawn ferry. See the pics as we were hand pulled across a small canal just on the out skirts of Zwolle.
Zwolle is a very pretty old town and we will be back, as it was into town, a quick bite to eat, buy some food for the train, and Leah brought a skirt from Hema, and onto the train back to Amsterdam.
