Dolly's Bike Blog

We have discovered that the Dutch pronounce Gouda ‘How-duh’ – and have tried to say it correctly today.

We got a late start this morning, after 10 am.  Even the courier was waiting for our bags.

The first miles were heading out of Leiden, with a bit of wandering to look at suburban housing. Many of the roads were brick, not as rough as cobblestone, but wear on the hands.  Passed over the main highway with noise baffles, even below an aqueduct – the best plan for Rethink 65/70 (for readers in Indianapolis).

Again we rode along canals and green fields, seeing more swans and white-beaked birds in the water than before. By afternoon, we saw lots of leisure cyclists of all ages and sizes – even saw a woman with a baby in a front pack and a toddler behind in a seat.

Near the town of Boskoop, we came upon numerous nurseries.  When we stopped for lunch in Bodegraven, it was recommended we visit a nearby fortress, off our route.  We discovered that the grounds had been taken over by the Citroen Club of the Netherlands – fun wandering among the cars.

Don, the excellent map reader, got us back on course, traversing a lake to get to Gouda.  Wandering toward the hotel, we stopped at the Cheese Museum for an interesting tour, also a view of the Town Hall built in 1450.

Tonight we are at Best Western Gouda. After showers, we walked back into the center of town for dinner, enjoying the sun glow on City Hall.

Total of 32.45 miles, avg. speed 10.3 mph; Garmin reads 1578 ascent, 1558 descent.

After breakfast and packing, we left Abcoude about 9 am.

I should comment about luggage transport.  One complication for us is what to do with the tandem case: 6 ft x 3 ft x 9 in.  Tulip Cycling’s Peter Vos is picking up the case and storing it for 9 days at his office, then delivering it to us in Gent. Perfect solution from our perspective. And each day we leave our bags at the overnight hotel and they are moved by courier to our next hotel. Thus we only travel with our daily needs on the tandem.

The departure took a bit of adjusting as I was “directing” the navigation using a Garmin 820, following a pink line. And of course we had a morning sprinkle which quickly passed.  Our route is mostly on bike paths, along canals.  We crossed water regularly, once on a cable ferry, another time on a small motor ferry, and even across some locks. Scenery all green, many cows, some horses, goats, and sheep.  Also through small towns, eventually into Leiden, home of the oldest university in Holland.

Wind at our head was a factor; we suspect it may be something we deal with daily.

It was market day so the last 2 miles were quite congested and we ended up walking the bike.  We are staying at Nieux Minerva Hotel, along one of the 28 km of canals in Leiden.

After settling into the hotel (our bags were waiting for us), we headed out to walk around, joining the market crowd in places, climbing up to the citadel for a view over the city, finally taking a canal boat ride for a different perspective.

33 miles, average speed on the bike 11.13 mph, 1102 ft ascent, 1106 ft descent (a fun statistic in a flat country).