Day 5 of Biking:  Destination – Huizen, Netherlands.  Today’s Mileage:  32 Miles

Today we took the shorter option -32 miles.  Thank goodness!  The winds today were 20 miles an hour with up to 35 miles an hour gusts.  It felt like non-stop 35 miles/hour for a lot of the route!!

We started out by retracing our route from yesterday for a mile or so.  At one corner, we saw this sculpture on the road.  You can also get a glimpse of the bike lane.  Most of the time the dedicated bike lanes were red and the car lanes were the normal road color.

Not too far from the sculpture, we passed a windmill.  We’d seen it yesterday, but from this direction it was easier to get a photo of it.

We took a turn just after the windmill and entered a boat harbor area.

There was a wide plaza area where there was a city gate.  We stopped so I could get off my bike to take a picture.  I walked through the gate and there was a charming neighborhood on the other side.

The brick pavers had cute fish inserts:

As we continued on our route after the city gate, we rode through an area with the old city walls on one side and a small marina/canal on the other.. 

Past the walls, our route took us along the water through parklike neighborhoods.  There were several small beach areas where kayaks and small boats were stored.  It was interesting because the houses in that area were set back far enough to give space for a road, a sidewalk and the bike lane -with lots of green space between the water and the houses (not shown, but they were to the left).

The houses were off to our left here. This picture shows the walking path alongside the bike path.

This is the view, including one of the small beach areas, to the right of the bike path.

Then we eventually drifted away from the waterfront and into a regular neighborhood area with all sorts of twists and turns as we followed the route on the GPS through there.  At one corner we saw a couple from our tour group stopped at a corner looking a bit lost. I think they actually followed us for a mile or so to get through that neighborhood area.  If they’d been navigating just using the maps we were given, that area would have been very confusing to navigate through.  (Even with the GPS’s we still had to backtrack a few times to pick up a missed turn).

Next we passed through a woodsy area until we popped out onto a trail along the top of a levee system, which we followed for miles.  And that’s where the wind really decided to be annoying.  For the most part it was more to our side, but still affected us.  There was nothing but fields and water around us -so nothing helped block the wind.

First break of the day.

After more miles of levee riding, we were looking for a place for another break.  We got to a spot where the GPS was indicating both a left turn and straight ahead.  Due to the small screen we have on the GPS, it was impossible to tell at a glance which way was the right way.  We stopped to talk it over.  We could tell that if we turned left, it would dead-end at a small group of buildings off to the left.  We realized that the left turn was some sort of “point of interest” and that the rest of the route was straight ahead.  We decided to check out the “point of interest” (mainly in search of restrooms!).

This was an old steam pumping station, which was built to help maintain water levels in the area.  It was originally powered by coal -with the water-wheel’s paddles scooping up water as they spun.  It has since been converted to electricity.  However, they still fire up the boiler on certain days because the location operates as a historical site.

We did get a break from the wind when we entered the town of Spakenburg.  What a cute little harbor town!  At first we saw a modern marina area.

Our path took us along the marina for a few blocks.

Then we turned onto this street.  Where you can see the people in this picture is where we arrived at the old harbor area.

Spakenburg was established as a town in the early 1300’s.  There were several historical wooden boats moored in this area, with the edges of the harbor lined with restaurants and stores.  We got off our bikes and walked through this part of the town.

I took the above pictures and just a bit further along, we crossed a bridge to the other side (shown in the picture) and walked along that side until we reached the end of the harbor area..

We emerged back onto the waterside pathway and continued on our merry way.

As we were leaving the outskirts of Spakenburg, we saw signs on the road that we couldn’t read, but recognized as having to do with construction and a possible detour.  We cautiously kept going.  There was a marked detour for cars and I thought we were supposed to follow that, but Mike didn’t agree.  We went a bit further following the GPS map and happily found a very short construction bypass only for bikes.  For quite a while after that, we had the entire road to ourselves because the cars had a longer detour.

With all that signage -what do you think our first clue was?

Then it was back to the levee trail for far too many miles.

At one point I thought we were getting more into a woodsy area that would help cut the wind effect, but unfortunately, it wasn’t helpful for long.  We took a break just after we passed through it.

I had already been complaining about the wind for most of the day.  A few miles after the rest stop,  I noticed on the GPS that a right turn was coming up.  NOOOOOooo!  That meant we’d be turning head-on into the wind.   After the turn, we rode directly into that wind for about 3 miles and it was completely defeating.  What a mental game it was to just keep riding.  I think my top speed through there was about 8 miles an hour.  Absolute misery!  It was Christmas morning when the GPS showed that there was a left turn coming up… even though that turn was onto a very narrow dirt trail.  Anything was better than riding into that wind today.

The wind relief from that turn was short-lived. For the last 5 miles or so, we twisted and turned, directions changing from a side wind to a head wind.

This was the last ferry of the trip.  As you can see in the pictures, it was a short trip.

As we arrived on the outskirts of Huizen, the route kept us near the water where we could feel the full force of the wind, but at least it was mostly coming from the side. The GPS was basically taking us through parking lots behind apartments or condo buildings at this point.  It wasn’t very scenic.

We did have to cross what looked like a small lock -but I think it was for water control and not watercraft.

By the time we reached the harbor area where the ship would dock -we were pretty tired.  We arrived before the ship did, so we stopped at a restaurant for lunch to pass the time.  We were ecstatic to be off our bikes!  At first, we looked for a table outside, but pretty much as soon as we sat down, I told Mike that it was too chilly for me -so we moved inside.

While we were at the restaurant, I checked to see if there was a nearby grocery store and there was one only a few blocks away.  It was only a few blocks away.  After we ate, we went to the store to pick up a few snacks and drinks.  On the way there, I realized that the bike path system was starting to feel completely natural to me. It truly is amazing to see how bikes and cars navigate together in a graceful choreography.

We got our snacks and rode back to the harbor to see if we could find the ship.  It was at the far end of the marina area and we could tell it hadn’t been there long because the crew were still doing their docking chores.  We had to pass through a security gate to roll the bikes onto the dock and park them next to the ship..

We both ended up taking a nap before dinner!

We had a great time with our table-mates that night.  Even with the language barrier, we managed to have enjoyable conversations all week.  Each day, they’d gotten less self-conscious about trying to talk in English…and Mike was been remembering a few words of his high school French classes.

Here is the paper map for today’s ride:

Categories: Part 7: Harderwijk to Huizen