The engines fired up early this morning and as soon as the lift bridge was open for business – we were headed to Bruges. There was another birthday this week – Someone got ice cream for breakfast! The original… Read More ›
Bike & Barge 2016
Part 8 -Ghent to Bruges (or not!)
I thought our departure from Grand Rapids by taxi got the d’aventure part of the adventure out of the way early. Little did I know that today would be a bit more interesting than it was supposed to be. Plan… Read More ›
Part 7 -Middelburg to Ghent
It was supposed to be the worst day of the whole trip weather-wise …Thunderstorms! Lightning! Pouring rain. It definitely started out that way! Oh yeah -Happy Birthday to me! As we were eating breakfast this morning, the barge motored a… Read More ›
Part 6 -Zierikzee to Middelburg
Happy Birthday to Mike! Mike likes to check the weather, especially when we’re traveling. As the week wore on, he became the “go to” guy for the weather report when the group was asking what to expect. Marcel (our guide)… Read More ›
Part 5 -Dordrecht to Zierikzee
The first part of our day was traveling on the barge down the river to Willemstad, where the bikes would then be unloaded and we’d be hitting the pedals. I took a look at the map to try to figure… Read More ›
Part 4 – Gouda to Dordrecht
What a crappy day! We woke up to rain and so on with the rain gear first thing. At least it was a light rain as we started out. The first thing we did was ride into Gouda (again)… Read More ›
Part 3 -Uithoorn to Gouda
Time to Ride! Other than our cabins, we spent most of our time in the salon. Today’s destination: Gouda. I’ve heard of the cheese…now I get to see where it comes from. It was supposed to be 28-30 miles riding… Read More ›
Part 2 -Amsterdam to Uithoorn
All Aboard! We found this trip on tripsite.com, a website that acts as a clearinghouse/booking agent for all sorts of bike trips in Europe. The actual tour company is called Cycle Tours; cycletours.com. Setting up the booking was very easy… Read More ›
Barges, Bikes & Birthdays
Believe it or not, this time it was Mike’s idea to do an active trip. He decided that we needed a birthday trip and suggested that a Bike and Barge vacation might be just what the doctor ordered. (Pun intended)…. Read More ›
Part 1 – A Walk Around Amsterdam
I found a walking tour on the internet that seemed to do a good job of including all the major sights, so after we dropped our things, we began to follow the route, which conveniently started at the train station. … Read More ›