Vogelenzang - Delft - To France the Long Way

July 19, 2009

Vogelenzang - Delft

As I expected, it rained during the night and it continues to drizzle while, standing next to the tent, we spoon our musli and slurp our tea. We're beginning to feel a bit more philosophical about this bad-weather thing. We have observed that, just because it's raining, the Dutch often don't even bother to put on a hat or rainjacket. Now we understand them better. It's raining, so what, just get on with your day.

We are not yet feeling too philosophical about the wind. To avoid the the strong coastal wind, we have departed from the long distance Bike Route LF 1 which follows the dunes. If we were travelling north, it would be a treat.

This shows the network of Dutch long distance bike routes. We will pick up the the LF 1 along the coast after Delft, highlighted in yellow.

The last ten kilometers to Den Haag is hard work. We are following the bicycle signs into town, perhaps not the best route since much of the way is on very bad pavement.

Here, I believe, we are passing through Nordwijk.

Flower power: The cut flower industry, not limited to tulips, is one of the leading industries of The Netherlands.

We dawdle in Den Haag, dawdle around the train station, seriously debating getting tickets for the overnight train to Munich. We even enter the train station. The question should-we-continue-or-quit-now has become a recurring theme. Somehow we don't have the guts to say that was it, and we find ourselves out on the road looking for roadsigns to Delft.

Heading to Den Haag's train station and very close to buying tickets to Munich

Endless number of bicycles parked at the station

We got past the train station and are on our way to Delft along this canal.

After taking a few wrong turns, we find our way to a quiet and simple camping ground outside of Delft, set up the tent to let it dry and stock up at the next supermarket for dinner. Our MSR Mutha Hubba tent and Trangia cooker prove to be reliable in wind and rain: We are happy with our camping set-up and that we aren't on a train home.

Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 1,825 km (1,133 miles)

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