Today we got started at good time. The sun was out the weather was ideal with not much wind. Today we biked a lot on the tops of dikes that divided different polders. It was very strange seeing different water levels on the two sides of the road. At times the one side would be 10-15 feet lower than the other side.
Today we pretty much stayed in rural places with a few towns along the way. The areas have had lots of reclaimed land (known as polders) As we were biking we passed along many tree lined streets on the top of the dike.
In the town of Hoorn we saw this building by the port and could not figure out what it was for? City Hall? Castle? Nope in looking it up it was a defensive tower for the port. It was originally built in the 1400’s. It ultimately lost it’s defensive purpose and was used as comercial space. Currently there is a restaurant on the ground floor.
Yesterday we saw lots of flowers. Today it was sheep. We were on a stretch where the sheep in pairs would wedge themselves between the tree and the fence. Not sure why. Tried to get a picture of them in the strange spot but they got frightened when I got off the bike and stood up.
Today’s windmills pictures. The top pictures are not great as we never got real close but at one point there were 5-6 windmills in our view. The bottom picture is a water lift windmill that would raise the water out of the polder. It was replaced by an electric pump that you can see in front of the windmill.
About a third of the ride today was biking along side the Ijsselmeer. The IJsselmeer is a large lake that used to be the Ziuderzee. The town of Enkhuizen where we are staying tonight is on the IJsselmeer.
Enkhuizen was one of the original big port cities in the Netherlands. Hoorn, Amsterdam, and Enkhuizen were the largest ports in the 14-1600s. Unfortunately for Enkhuizen it’s port silted in and larger sea boats could no longer dock here. So Amsterdam grew and Enkhuizen not so much. It is a quaint little town that still retains an active boating culture. It has the largest marina in all of the Netherlands. Our B&B window looks out on to the Harbor Marina.
Picture of our B&B from the marina. (Our windows are the two on the second floor)
We are getting closer to the end of our trip. Tomorrow is our last mandatory ride. Tuesday’s ride is optional and weather dependent…Right now rain in the forecast for Tuesday AM. Today though seemed like our best day riding. We had great scenery with variations from farms to canals, to large lake side vistas. Several small quaint towns, and even a small ferry crossing.
Tomorrow on to Leeuwarden…
Peace,
Dale and Ila
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