A nice breakfast, chats with some of the other guests, asking us about our trip. Going to breakfast in cycling gear tends to do that.

We rolled out quietly, crossing the cobbled pavement, heading towards Edam and Purmerend, then onto Zaandijk.

Lots of canals, nice homes and farms.

This stretch of road was beautiful. The houses all had such features with flowers. Clogs, scarecrows and stuffed jeans.

A dairy area too.

Lots of tourists were walking around Zaandijk.

Not sure what this is, but interesting structure.

We saw the kiosk and stopped for drinks. Buitenhuizen has a ferry to transport over the North Sea canal.

It’s free, and constantly going back and forwards. We just missed the first one, so enjoys our drinks and chatting with this super fit 70 year old Dutch rider.

He rides 800 km per week, on the road. His wife is still working four days a week, so says he rides all day, up to 150 km.

We stand just under the descending flight to Schipol (Amsterdam airport). A constant lineup.

We cross to the other side. We laughed as the three motor bikes are revving their motors.

An interesting point is that small motored bikes below certain cc are allowed on bike paths. We have been passed by hundreds mostly respectfully, but some at quite the speed.

An interesting church.

Our route goes through the side of Haarlem towards Leiden, following a path that cuts through villages and flower farms.

Many tulip fields that would have been glorious a few months ago.

A heavily picked over peonie field.

Not sure what’s growing here. Look like carrots but likely a flower.

Hand painted tulip bulbs.

Churches in each village.

Always canals and boats.

Old gateways into towns. This one is at Leiden. An interesting looking town, birthplace of Rembrandt.

Roundabout of the day.

Excellent pathway.

Heavily flowering peonies. There was a farm shop open at this one where you could buy produce.

Very modern homes back onto this canal, with internal spots for the boats.

The men were busy fishing here. We’ve not yet seen anyone catch a fish! Many of the men have quite elaborate set ups.

A lovely windmill renovation in progress.

We are riding towards Delft, riding through parts of The Hague. Many beautiful homes back onto the canal.

We don’t deviate as today, at 107 km to ride and it has been increasingly challenging with the unabated head winds growing stronger.

Around Delft there are roadworks in progress and we need to re route. Annoying as we are keen to get there, but easy for us to figure out with our bike computers.

We are staying in as all boutique style accommodation alongside a small canal. It has won many awards including a Netherlands National BnB award. It is likely the nicest overnight (well two in this case) we have stayed in on any of our trips.

The bikes are well secured with their loan e-bikes.

We pass by the rabbits, ducks and chooks.

We have our own enclosed yard, where the sun shone brightly, and enough breeze to catch the drying clothing.

The backyard extends down to a canal, a hot house with vegetables growing. There are also beehives.

The room is beautifully appointed, with a handwritten card and gift of local tea.

A little car we saw as we walked to the village. These are compact and have seen one on a bike path! There is a sign on the back indicating it has a limit of 40 kmh.

So here we are now in South Holland province.

Tomorrow is a rest day off the bike. after 1720 km in 18 days, good for our body.

I do have a route mapped, but there are thunderstorms brewing with warnings, and we have plans to catch up with a friend instead. Who wants a wet bum if you have options.

Thanks for reading.

Nagele is a quiet little modern village and we left after our breakfast, heading to the fields towards Lelystad.

The air was a nice 16C, little wind.

As we made it across to the great inland lake of Ijsselmeer , once opened to the ocean, but closed with land reclaim and the construction of dykes.

It is hugely popular for boating.

As we approached the lake, many wind turbines were evident.

Crossing a bridge, even transmission lines are on large water based pylons.

We then rode along a path on the dyke. A clearer view of the water based wind turbines.

The marinas were well stocked.

Heading towards that tall control tower that is actually a series of antennas. The tower for the canals is to the right.

We skirt around Lelystad stopping for a drink beside the canal.

We may have had a stroopwafel too 😁

We watched a very large oil or gas barge enter the lock plus two yachts. We then realised we should get moving as the bridge would need to lift for the two yachts.

Tony had just passed the first of four gate barriers when the loud warning bells went off for the bridge lift. He still had three more barriers to pass, loud bells sounding. Pedal faster Tony!

I stopped before the first barrier and watched the section of bridge lift.

The first of the two yachts passing under.

This was a very interesting section of today’s ride. The causeway or dyke is the longest we have ever ridden.

I was thankful that the headwinds were minor, and relief from the increasing heat. Being out in this 26 km or so causeway in stormy weather would be awful.

A blown up route map showing the causeway.

The area is also a national park. Certainly lots of bird life out here.

Reserve for dumping bikes too.

For the most part, we could not see the cars. This is very early on where the land to the right still clear. Ultimately we are mid way along the dyke, with some slope up to the left, slope down to the right.

Geese and ducks dominate.

And these gnat like bugs seen mucking up this photo. We ate them, breathed then and later when we showered, they were all through the various layers of my clothing.

In my bra, under my jersey, under my gilet. Strange how they get in as the jersey was zipped up.

Surprisingly just over half way across was a jut of land to the right supporting this cafe. It would seem rude not to stop and have a drink.

We ordered an iced coffee. Not sure where the coffee was in the drink but it was enjoyable anyhow.

English signage in the middle of the Netherlands.

As we left, this truck had interesting signage about the environmental benefits of a large double deck truck. The panel in green also espouses its benefits.

The last section of the dyke we reached a high point and could see over the road lanes to ‘the other side’. Vegetation had changed and it was quite sandy and grassy.

There were beaches on our side with sand, and people who had ridden out to swim.

Nearly across now as the town of Enkhuizen comes into clear sight.

There is another canal as the causeway area joins the mainland. Here there is a canal boat crossing the road! You can see the top of the canal boat to the left of the cement section.

The road and bike path descends under the canal. Pretty cool engineering.

We now follow the coast down towards our destination of Voldendam.

Pretty houses, canals, coastal scenes abound. Another pleasant section to ride.

The day has heated up to be in the mid 20’s.

This was interesting. There were three of three gangs working this field picking I’m not sure what. They worked in this line, and the music was very loud.

On the path Tony managed to snap this coffin on wheels. We’ve seen a few this trip. They move fast.

We noted the very neat hedge.

You can always pick a village by an area with a church spire.

Little beach area.

Mini me working windmill.

Nearby the big me.

We deviated into Hoorn looking for a supermarket. The town was a bit crazy being lunchtime Saturday. We took a few photos and headed back to the dyke.

We took a few photos in the market square area.

A large shell statue on the outskirts.

Following the dyke, on the inner side, as there was no path waterside, we noted these umbrellas. We presumed that people had gone up there with them. Closer inspection revealed that there were multiple umbrellas for the sheep to seek shade.

The Dutch look after their sheep better than Australia.

We are in Zeevang, per the map.

View from the top of the dyke, looking northwards.

Thee I am waiting for Tony to get off the dyke.

Some interesting modern homes.

The sun was in a bad spot when we took this one, but the statue is called Venus. She wears gumboots.

We detoured through Edam. This is looking down the canal. We may ride through Edam again tomorrow.

Now we are in Voldendam staying in a waterfront hotel. The bikes are down in a hold with the alcohol, food stores, laundry and adjacent to their kitchen.

The view from our bedroom.

We have to be inventive today drying our washing.

We felt it wrong to hang too much out given the restaurant and bar below.

A 101 km today. Our total is over 1500 km now.

We had a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant not too far away, being the first customer when it opened at 5 pm.

We then grabbed some gelato from the supermarket to finish. $1.99 for a tub versus over $2 a scoop at a shop.

Not sure why the eggs are coloured.

Some nice views out our window.

We are here for two nights. We are only 10 km north of Amsterdam. We will do a day trip there tomorrow.

Our route today.

Thanks for reading 🚴❣️😊

Another yummy breakfast made by our host Anneke. I love these cute mugs.

One thing about cycle touring, you don’t buy souvenirs, as you have to carry them.

Down to the ferry terminal, the temperature was cool and it was windy. Rain was forecast today.

The bikes are first onto the ferry, last off on the other side. They are simply leaned against the side which works fine as the water is flat.

Ominous skies.

Then just like that, the skies improve.

There is just one drive on deck for cars and trucks. We are amazed at how many big trucks were on both trips. Many walk on passengers too.

We head out of Holwerd and of course, a windmill.

Cruising along and we needed to stop here for five minutes or so whilst this very large herd of cows crossed the farm to the green paddocks ‘on the other side’.

An unusual letterbox?

Many beautiful villages today with gorgeous canals and waterside homes. All looks very peaceful.

Where there are canals there are bridges. These ones I do not like. They are steep. I push my bike up and with a degree of trepidation roll down the other side.

A super cute, young foal.

The biggest junk heap we’ve seen on the trip so far. Two boats that seem to collect …junk! But they are proud Dutch.

Villages and more canals.

This is coming into Leeuwarden the largest town we negotiated today.

A population of around 130,000 and continuously inhabited since the 10th century they, it was also a former royal residence.

These seven metre high white sculpture are called Love. The mist is meant to be around two metres in height, but I think the very strong wind played havoc today.The artist is Spanish, by the name Plensa.

We had been subjected to strong headwinds (a southerly today, and of course, our direction), since the start today. The temperature was in the high 20’s.

We stopped a few times to grab cold drinks.

Some shade was always welcomed.

We saw a few of these towers today, with bells.

A cat statue in a small roundabout. Tony thinks we should have one in Possum for Puddles ( RIP 2013) who was a local ‘identity’ or dog hazard as she launched out at dogs.

More churches. They all have clocks and this looks the right time.

We needed more water and stopped at this farm. Many farms here operate cafes.

A large working farm that has icecream. Very nice too, plus we topped our water bottles up in the bathroom.

Many canals have lift bridges. The first one we’ve needed to wait for.

This yacht sailed through, tacking multiple times to get the line right.

More pretty canals.

Time has moved on. 2.30 pm and another church.

This espalier is impressive.

I took this photo on my iPad. Whilst doing so, an elderly Dutch man approached me, chatting away. We had quite the conversation with neither having a clue what the other was saying. Smiling crosses barriers though.

Another bell tower.

With 34 km to go we stopped for more liquid at a supermarket. We sat outside drinking it and heard thunder. Yet the sky was blue.

Within 5 minutes it was raining and we had our jackets on. The wind was fearsome. I do hate riding when I hear thunder.

Then just like that, it stopped.

We motored on for about 5 km and had a tailwind.

Emmeloord looks like a nice town, but the thunder started again, and the winds got super wild and we were not stopping for photos.

The skies darkened and it was quite dark riding but I did not take my shaded protective glasses off as I needed to protect my eyes.

The last 9 km was unpleasant. We just rode and watched the lightning, counting to the thunder. Around 20 seconds so still a bit away.

The wind was coming from the side now. Gusts of 67 kmh per our data. We watched one lady on her ebike blow right off the path.

I was thankful that we were on a path and not the road where we had more space to control the inevitable sideway push. The trees were dropping twigs and small branches.

I kept counting. The time between the lightning and thunder, plus how many km remained. I was just hoping we could get there in time.

Dirt was being blown from dry paddocks.

In between thunder claps we did stop for one moment to take these two photos.

We were so relieved to get to our overnight destination just as the skies opened and the storm was on us. Our host quickly opened his garage.

Riding you don’t get such alerts.

Hoping for better weather tomorrow, as we wind our way towards Amsterdam.

We are now in a converted bank, including the original safe. It’s been very well done and the owners are a lovely younger Dutch couple who moved here from Rotterdam. They live in the attached former managers home and did this conversion.

There is lots of orange here, walls and curios.

There is also a large bath, and I did enjoy soaking in it last night.

Today we rode 106 km, bringing our total now to 1,419 km.

Thanks for joining us ❣️😳🚴

A super quiet night on our little island and we woke to another marvellous looking day, with higher temps forecast as Europe and UK are experiencing heatwave conditions. Summer still days away.

A later breakfast today at 8.30 am delivered to us by our host.

Getting out of Giethoorn was far easier than our arrival, and we should have entered this way given our host is close to the ‘far end’.

It was 24C already and we appreciated the shade from many forests we rode through today.

We ride through very quiet areas today including the Drents Friese Wold National Park. Amazing to have these wonderful trails making the parks so accessible to many.

Drenthe is a Dutch province. It has one of the lowest populations, but during the Bronze Age, the most populated.

Today there are major tracts of agriculture and national parks.

This map shows the cycle paths through the province. Fiets is the Dutch word for bikes.

Quiet villages. The heat was over bearing without the shade of trees.

Another stinking hot passage through open fields but the flowers are out, and pretty.

We did about 5 km through this open section of fields.

Stopping in the town of Norg we made our way to the supermarket. Tony’s request included a refrigerated can of something fizzy.

Found a can of cola, not his usual brand, plus our usual sparkling water, and a Gatorade style drink. Also grabbed tubes of quark (higher protein dairy product) and bananas.

We found some shade under a tree, just as a group of school children approached. We checked with the teacher, all ok to sit there.

We consumed our food, well most of it.

Tony told me his cola tasted a bit ‘funny’. He’d drunk half of it, and we looked at the can more closely. I had inadvertently bought one with 7% alcohol in it 🙈. That does not happen at home at the supermarket!

Right near the checkout too, where we’d have confectionary.

Anyhow we laughed, poured it out.

Rob is the school teacher of this class of curious kids. They were practising for a music event.

One young lad was super keen to let us know his dad owned the bike shop in town, which we did note as we departed town. The pride in his voice ❣️

There was another young girl who peeped my curiosity. She stood by closely, very observant but shyer. Looks like a wonderful young person and you gave to have confidence in the future with such kids.

Rob was super friendly, and a fellow cyclist. He had recently been cycling in the Ardennes (an area we touch on our return via Belgium, Luxembourg, France). He had the farmers arms to prove it too.

This interaction was a highlight of the day. Meeting locals, by chance, finding common ground.

As Rob pointed out, Tasmania is named after a Dutch man too!

We needed to move on, with about 38 km remaining.

I felt as dry as this!

I liked this little building adjacent to a small canal, deep in the forest.

More forest. The shade was valuable. Many paths today were paved with narrow pavers in herringbone pattern. It is rough as in your bum and not as smooth as cement or tar. This section was smooth though.

Tulips. There were big irrigators out and I hoped we’d get wet. No such luck.

We had a larger town to get through.

Groningen is regarded as the capital of the north, and we are in far north Netherlands. A city of around 250,000, and larger metro of 500,000 it was quite busy.

On the outskirts are canals with modern homes.

In the centre we rode through Stadspark, a substantial tract of forests, lakes, fountains and people.

Then there was this wonderful family. Dad at the front honking, not impressed with any other users. Looking super proud.

Nice canal areas.

Another park.

The last 11 km was very open, no shade. There is a dedicated path to Winsum. It was quite busy with bikes ploughing up and down.

Our overnight is in a loft above a bakery. It is a wonderful conversion. The air conditioner was on and the room cool.

A lovely rear deck that dried our washing in no time.

We wandered into the village centre, all of about 30 metres away to find food,

We had an amazingly nice dinner, sitting outside watching the cyclists everywhere. Kids dinking their friends, people heading home from work, others with groceries.

The main canal.

Nice windmill with the Dutch flag colours.

We then found a supermarket and another canal.

Here I am now, sitting on the back deck at 9 pm. Cool.

Tomorrow the temperatures drop. Will be nice but not as hot thankfully.

We head to the very north tomorrow, then around the coast,with a special guest.

93 km today, 1170 km total.

Thanks for reading ❣️😊🚴

Waking up near the quiet forest we packed and readied ourselves for breakfast. A more basic breakfast but sufficient.

Carved animal by the front door bid us tot ziens (bye).

A beautiful day awaited, hot forecast, but a pleasant 19C when we headed off. We would follow canals today and see lakes.

We came all the way to the Netherlands to see a wallaby! There were five I spotted, including three white ones.

We crossed over by this ‘thing’. Make of it what you will.

Nice part of the canal in a small village.

Pretty and peaceful.

We stopped to ‘talk to’ these miniature ponies. Very cute, but that hair!

That’s better, I rearranged what was very coarse hair around the blonde one’s ears. We had a good giggle. One good flick of the head and the mane will be restored. At least she could see now!

A floating duck….

Pretty chateau.

Statue in the park at Heerde where we found a supermarket to replenish our cold liquids and some nourishment.

Heerde was setting up for the finish of a cycle event. Me at the finish line.

Then another Aussie. This was on the Sunweb bus. Michael Matthews is an Australian cyclist, having won stages at the Giro, Vuelta and Tour de France.

He is not with this team now so their bus needs updating but nice to see. He rides with the Australian Jayco team, and recovering from a crash breaking both wrists.

I do have a Michael Matthews story. On Zwift years ago I used to lead an event called Crikey Down Under. We would ride as a group then at a certain point, the fastest riders would form a group called the Galahs and try to lap my group, the Wombats.

The route was around London and about 5.5 km laps, so the galahs had to work hard.

Michael Matthews joined one time and ‘asked me’ if he could participate. I was honoured he joined…no asking needed. The other Aussies in the event were also excited.

You might think he’d be a Galah, but he went as a Sag rider, picking up riders dropped off to bring them back.

Humble for a man known as Bling. Always had a soft spot for him since.

Super nice to see an Aussie on the side of a bus so far from home.

I laughed at the cow on the right who was scratching its head on the other cows bum, need to be careful with those horns!

One might think we are in the Netherlands.

A fortification in a village. Note the long wall.

Lovely river, with the horses enjoying the coolness of the water.

A pretty house boat. This looks a permanent fixture.

We even saw dinosaurs.

Zwolle is a very happening city with vibe. I did wonder about our partial glimpse of this structure over the waterway. The building with a growth.

It is the museum. This photo is from their website. A mix of architectural styles.

Zwolle, castle just appearing in the background through the fountain, people enjoying the water riding through the fountain sprays.

The castle we could see through the water spray is this, actually a city gate.

Sassenport was built in 1409, and listed as one of the top 100 Dutch heritage sites.

We crossed another bridge and stopped to watch the water activities. Predominantly young people in the boats, with some families. They were all having a ball.

This bridge reminds me of one of the tools in my Swiss Army knife present recently received from Ben.

All kinds of users on the paths.

We followed this canal up towards our overnight destination. It was super warm cycling now pushing towards 30C.

A little farmhouse had a sign out saying ijsje…we’ve learned that word quickly, it’s ice ream. We got two icy Calypos and two cold cans of saucy (water).

The view from the cafe canalside.

A family pulled in with mum and kids hopping off to grab refreshments.

We thought we were minutes away from our overnight stay in Giethoorn. We passed by a sign that said car parks were all full. I wondered about that.

We passed by some emus in a yard…another Aussie connection.

We only had a few turns to arrive, then pandemonium on a bike.

Every man, woman and child that was not in a boat was here, Taking up all available footpath space.

Today was a public holiday hence all the people.

We literally walked the last few km, save a few times we could scooter the bike.

Giethoorn has 2600 residents, with homes along 90km of canal network. It is known as the Dutch Venice.

The village is located in the heart of De Wieden, one of the largest nature reserves in the Netherlands. Together with De Weerribben it forms the largest peat bog in North Western Europe.

Centuries ago, peat cutting and floods created the lakes and the canals.

Most of the homes are thatched farmhouses, accessed by wooden bridges.

The bridges are super steep when pushing a bike with gear. I reckon we crossed a good dozen getting to our place.

Some of the local homes.

Found our place eventually. Crossed the bridge and onto our own island. You can tell where we are staying by the clothes that are drying.

We went searching for food, the crowds had started to thin. We knew many food establishments were open having passed by on our 2 km push a bike trip in.

We did enjoy a lovely meal, by the canal. From our table we watched this Great Dane. He was on the other side of the canal, on his owners island, watching each boat pass by.

Every now and then he singled one out and bark at them. Lots. We laughed as it reminded us of our Khaleesi. Some people can go by our place without her reacting, others she lets rip.

We wandered out to the large lake that our island backs onto.

It is huge and super popular even at 6 pm.

Walking back to our unit we smiled.

Our bridge. It is steeper than it looks, with timber trim on either side for foot grips. It was not easy getting our loaded bikes up, through the gate, down.

We sat on our deck enjoying the cooler air. We are amazed at the number of hire boats ploughing up and down the canal. Some of the drivers are terrible, bit like some of the cyclists we’ve seen. No sense of steering straight hitting the side of the canal, crashing into other boats.

I filmed these lads enjoying themselves.

Inching our way to Northern Netherlands, this is today’s route.

Today was a fantastic day on the bike. Bit too hot, but that aside, just brilliant. The scenery, the cycling infrastructure made it a very enjoyable touring day.

94 km today, 1077 km total.

🚴❣️😊