Amsterdam to Leiden and Delft

September 20, 2022

Train follies

Today's bike route to Delft is 70k (43 miles). It's a lot for us on the folders carrying our stuff, especially this early in the trip. Our longest training ride loaded up was 22 miles. We have a backup plan in case we aren't feeling it - ride 47k to Leiden for lunch, then take the train to Delft. We'll see what the day brings.

On the way out of Amsterdam we ride by the house where Rembrandt lived between 1639 and 1658, now a museum. Wish we had time for a tour, it sounds fascinating but we have ground to cover.

Shady path through the park south of Amsterdam.

Around 25k into the day we come to a construction barrier where the bike path crosses under the highway. Between Google maps, RidewithGPS and a nice woman who was walking on the trail, we figure out a way around it.

Guess we'll find another way around to the other side of that highway.

After that it's a pleasure cruise on bike paths all the way to Leiden, past sheep farms, flower fields, windmills and prosperous looking homes.

Bike lanes on the outside, two-way traffic on the single middle lane. The speed limit is 30 kph, about 19 mph, and traffic is very light here.

The drawbridge was going up just as we got here so we watched the boats go by.

We arrive in Leiden around 13:00, entering through the gate to the old city and find a cafe by the canal for lunch.

Sunny cafes on the canal in Leiden. It's so nice to see the sun again. Amsterdam was chilly.

The train sounds like a nice option to get to Delft. We've had plenty of miles for the day. It'll be our first train trip, should be interesting.

Passing by Rembrandt Square on the way to the train station, near where the painter and favorite son of Leiden grew up.

The Leiden train station is our first time doing a quick change of the panniers to backpacks, bagging the bikes and wrestling them up the escalator to find the platform for our train. It's some work.

The first train to Delft is too crowded so we wait 20 minutes for the next one, which is also very full. As we get closer I worry about being able to get off the crowded train at the Delft station with all our stuff. When the train pulls into the station we're queued up by the door, ready to eject.

We climb off the train, pack everything down the escalator and out of the station and put the bikes back together again. Turning around I see the name above the station - Den Haag. The Hague!? Surely not.
But yes, we got off one stop too soon. Chalk it up to experience.

Den Haag! We are definitely not in Delft. Oopsie.

Biking through The Hague is no fun. There are bike paths but lots of car traffic, intersections and noise; it's just really busy. Amsterdam was busy but with a lot more bike traffic than cars.

No pictures from this stretch; I was just trying to keep the wheel side down. Thankfully it was just 8k to get to Delft from the Hague. We wind up with 64k total, so our bobbled train experiment saved us a total of 6k on the original plan for today's ride. The good news is that the distance on the loaded up folders was not a problem. It's so flat here we could have done the whole ride to Delft without much difficulty.

Looking forward to a couple nights here.

View of the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) Tower near our hotel in Delft. I guess new is relative, it was built in the 15th century.

Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 113 km (70 miles)

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Rich FrasierLooks like it was a beautiful day! You wouldn't be the first people who got off one station too early. I won't mention any names, but someone we know has done exactly the same thing... :)
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1 year ago

Janice BranhamTo Rich FrasierThanks Rich. We've had a lot to learn about the trains this trip.
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1 year ago