Day 6 Harlingen to Lauwersoog

July 24, 2013

We left all our new friends dosing, folded our tent, and slipped off for a look into our next town, the adjacent Harlingen. Harlingen features a harbour and canal canal filled with fishing boats and yachts, a market street and square with quaint shops in hyper quaint buildings, and of course a bakery.

We had just eaten our bread and cheese and tomatoes, but the demands of bakery research are unending. So it was necessary to check out the coffee and pastry. This was a small round torte like item, with three kinds of nuts on top and a a pecan pie-like filling. I liked it a lot!

We now proceeded loosely parallel to the coast, bopping through towns that were on average 4 km apart. Each town features doll house like homes with large steep roofs, cobbles andd bike paths everywhere, and the most peaceful yet productive atmosphere imaginable. As we went along, farmers waved to us from their tractors,and people waved to us from their homes. Dodie remarked that the cows in the fields were likely Friesians. Duh!

Harlingen is on the lower left. Ahead (right) is our wander area for the morning.

Finally, we arrived in Sint Jacobie Parochie. Here , at the Groate Kerk, is the start of the pilgrimage route to Santiago Compostella, in Spain. This is the route symbolized by the scallop shell. Another, more local route seemed to also start here, and was symbolized by the whelk.. The Bikeline route passes through this town, and heads a bit north, closerr to the sea. However we were much enjoying passing through the small villages, and plotted our own way. This if course is super easy because there is a bike way everywhere, and the knopunt system maps and signs are also everywhere, not to mention the red bicycle direction signs. I know I am blithering about this in every page of the blog, but anyone scarred by bike travel in Vancouver or Seattle or even Manitoba or Montana (as we have been) will understand what a change it is to travel on red dedicated paths short distances among fairy tale villages. Well, I guess that's my rant for this page.

the crest of a local town - note the whelks

this shows the pilgrimage route from here to spain

maybe these folks starting off from tthe church are heading to Spain

look Sabrina - beside the church a costume rental

that great house plus barn combo design. This one 400 years old.

4 km (or less) from Sint Jacobieparochie is Sint Anna. At the church in Sint Anna, Rembrandt married Saskia. On the market street, just a short distance away we passed a bike shop and decided to stop in and have them look at three small issues with Dodie's bike: 1. For some reason her heavily loaded ike broke her $6 Walmart kid's bike stand 2. Headset a bit loose and 3. Wireless computer not synching. Right now I am sitting at an outside table of the bakery across the street (one of two, right here), while Dodie, having picked up a salad a the fruit and vegetable store (right here) is in the Aldi market (right here). Did I mention how livable these places are? Oh yeah, right.

the way of the whelk in christmas lights above the street

The man in the bike shop did a bang up job. He ditched our Walmart stands and installed giant (relative to our bikes) powerful duutch bike stands. Somehow they fit perfectly and offer double the stability of the original (and now also broken) Bike Friday models. Dodie's Sigma wireless bike computer was declared dead, and replaced by a serviceable Sigma wired model, and her headset was adjusted. Total cost of 50 euros was clearly a bargain. To boot, we got a sticker from the shop to adorn our bikes. In future, cycling in Texas, or somewhere, this sticker will be a proud reminder (and maybe our dutch stands will still be alive too).

the pastries I chose while waiting for the bikes

powerful dutch stands for our little bikes

Our plan for this afternoon is to continue noodling from village to village, heading north east parallel to the coast. Eventually we will bump in to Germany - maybe tomorrow.

the town of Holwerd seen from an inner dike used to bbe a seaside town

these are a few of the towns we cruised among as we headed north east toward the dike that crosses to Groeningen province

When we stopped at a bench beneath the dike for lunch, a number of other cyclists began to appear. These were mostly Dutch day trippers, out here at campsites on vacation. With them we had interresting discussions about Canada, and their friennds and relations there. One was Toon, from Brugge, who is doing a 14 day circuit through Netherlands annd Gerrmany. With him we reminisced about Brugge, and the remaining impact of the war on thhe country. We got an invitation to visit him when and if we make it there at the end of our circle.

gefahr of the day, but didn't know the country had such aggressive berms!

this is a ferry to one of the outer islands

this cycling couple shown at the dike to Groeningen is 75 and 76 years old

Laurie what are you doing July 27 (hah!)

it's goodbye to friesland here is one last souvenir

Our travels for the day ended when we crossed the dike that created Lauwersoog lake, by cutting off the entrance to what was a bay. The lake is now a major tourist attraction, and we stopped at Cammping Lauwersoog. This is a huge, bustling thing, with giant restaurant and all sorts of recreation services. We evenn got a "private" patch of grass, surrounded by shrubs, for 12.50 euros.

this map shows the lauwersoog lake area, where we are now

It started to rain, which sent us scrambling and used up time. Though we are on vacation (and retired!) time has seemed short in past days. Ballky campground internet, dealing with the finicky requirements of emailed in blog entries, and a keyboard that mistypes every tenth letter have made for late bedtimes. Getting up at 5 to beat the heat then makes for little sleep. With slightly cooler temperatures, maybe we will be able to sleep in a little. 7 would feel like a vacation! We'll see, eh.

Today's ride: 79 km (49 miles)
Total: 305 km (189 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0