Another Beautiful Day Cycling in the Netherlands

We have had very good weather for cycling. Today we had a great day, almost all in the countryside, although we did go through some medieval towns. There is so much water here, that it is often necessary to take ferries to go from one town to the next. We rode somewhere between 25 and 30 miles, nothing is too exact on this trip. Most of our riding is on bike paths, often on the top of dikes where we get a great view of the countryside. Many of the roofs of the large Dutch farms are thatched and goats seemed to be the animal of choice here. Everything is green and the land is very fertile, farms and orchards dot the landscape. Typically we pack a lunch before we leave the barge in the morning and then find a nice place to stop and eat. Today we had a stop at a wooden shoe making facility, one of the few left in Holland. The proprietor was quite informative and very entertaining, everyone was taken with the stop and a few purchased wooden shoes. The towns we’ve seen all date from the Middle Ages and are organized around canals. Typically weeping willow trees hang over the canals and time appears to have stopped a couple of hundred years ago. When we finish the daily ride we come into town to find our barge tied up and all set for cocktail hour. Dinner is served at 6:30. Our hosts on the barge, Winifred and Els, are very welcoming. Els has taken extensive cooking lessons and the meals reflect this. She has a successful herb garden on the top deck of the barge. We have had breakfast quiches, elaborate dinners and desserts to die for. We may bike a lot of miles but I doubt we’ll lose any weight. After dinner we tour the town where the barge is docked….then we go right to bed as we are all exhausted. Everyone is holding up well and having a great time.