Beauty and the Beast!

Where to start? The beginning seems to be a good place.

Dropping off point.

Jan dropped me off somewhere outside of Colchester so that I could ride the last few miles into Harwich.

I was early so I needed to do something in Harwich to fill my time. So….

I had my first ice cream of the trip. Mr Whippy type ice creams aren’t my favourite but I did enjoy this one.

The best bit about crossing on a ferry is the chat I have with other cyclists waiting to get on board.

It is amazing what other cyclists do. An older Dutch couple had cycled to Wales, around the west coast of Ireland and back to Harwich in 6 weeks. A woman and daughter were cycling to a Dutch island where there are no cars allowed and a young English lad who lives in Amsterdam had cycled up to through mid Wales and was on the way back.

The ferry was fine and I remembered to put my clock forward but didn’t need to because they played the song, ‘Don’t worry, be happy’, over the speakers as a morning alarm.

Once in Holland I hit the ‘Kust Route’ through the dunes. I misread it and thought it was a Krust route so I was imagining bread crumbs along the way, just like Hansel and Gretel! It was great to ride traffic free through the dunes and beaches. I was excited to get on with my cycling adventure.

Thankfully, it didn’t rain despite the grey clouds. It was actually fairly warm too.

I passed a beach resort for The Hague and Zandvoort which is a resort close to Amsterdam.

Every good fairytale needs a monster so how about this one?
And here’s a beast I didn’t expect to see in Holland.
The beaches were pristine. They probably just needed a bit of sunshine.

I had my first stroopwaffel at coffee time. Followed by ‘something’ in a bun for lunch…

I wasn’t sure what it was. The man in the stall said it was ‘white fish’ but I don’t believe him. He also warned me about the birds. He was right about that! I was constantly fending off crows and seagulls.

When I arrived at Zandvoort I found out that it had a Race Circuit and it was hosting the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday.

Max Verstappen is a Dutch hero.

The town was decked out in orange flags and black and white chequered flags. Very festive. I rode out to the circuit but couldn’t see too much but there was lots of activity to set it up. I’m not sure whether I’m happy or sad to have missed the event. I’m not a big fan of Formula 1 but it must be a great event to be around.

Onward to Haarlem for the end of my route today. I have been to Haarlem in New York and I must say this Haarlem is far better.

The Stadthuis. It must be a registry office as there were at least two weddings this afternoon.

My hotel was in the main square.

I wasted no time in visiting the huge St Bavo’s Church.
The 10 year old Mozart played the organ. As did Handel (sorry no idea of his age!).
I was feeling proud of myself for completing the ride. I must be getting too big for my boots? Sorry, my boots were too big for me!

I checked into the hotel and put my bike into secure bike parking on the next street. It’s all free. Cycling in Holland is great.

I couldn’t be anywhere but Holland.

I nearly missed my ice cream of the day….

Raspberry Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich….wow! They didn’t have Smurf flavour ice cream so I had to choose this.

I had a couple of beers at bars in the evening sunshine. I couldn’t ask for more. Maybe a could have had a Beauty to go with my two Beasts, but you can’t have it all.

Tomorrow could be rather wet and will certainly be more rural with small towns. It’s nice to mix up the experience. I’m still looking forward to it. Ta ta till tomorrow.

According to Google Translate, Good night is ‘welterusten’ in Dutch. So, I hope your Welter doesn’t Rusten!

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