August 12, 2023
Day 23: Den Haag to Oudewater
Z is for Zuiderpark
This morning’s curtain reveal delivers bad news – rain. We’re in Den Haag to attend parkrun (it’s Saturday) and we have a 5 or 6 km ride to Zuiderpark for the 9am start. This is relatively stress-free, compared to parkruns numbers 1 to 3 on this trip. Getting to Dieterbach involved an early start and a long Intercity train trip as well as a good ride to the startline, while De Potten last week was a commuter train trip and decent ride away.
Zuiderpark is easy to find though and is a joy to run: two laps of a wide, sealed path around the perimeter of a rather nice-looking park. The post-parkrun café chat (better known to the initiated as parkfaff) is an important part of its culture and we while away an hour drying out and chatting to a bunch of UK parkrun tourists. Why did we all make the trek to Zuiderpark in the Netherlands? Because we’re all collecting an alphabet of parkrun names and a Z is a rare beast indeed. Almost worth travelling from the southern hemisphere for just this reason (though Brisbane, Australia was my back-up plan).
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We have a late hotel check-out, which allows us to change into less wet gear before starting today’s ride. The sun is out by the time we leave the hotel carpark and it’s a very pleasant ride out of Den Hague. We’re soon riding alongside a wide canal in an attractive suburb of the city.
While waiting at a raised canal bridge, I remember a clever bit of bridge-raising we saw when riding to the Hortus in Leiden the other day. Bruce saw the chap in charge in his observation post as we waited for that bridge to come down and wondered how he got about from bridge to bridge. His job description should specify a bike, we agreed. Once the bridge was down, we turned right and followed the canal where we could see the next bridge just a wee bit further along. We could also see the boat from the first bridge closing in on the second. Canal keeper chappie flew past us – on a bike, we were pleased to see – clutching something on his chest. It was a remote controller – like a giant garage door opener. By the time both he and the boat had arrived at the second bridge, it was on its way up. Job done!
Back to today. Good things never go on forever, of course, and we cover most of the rest of the distance alongside expressways, though generally separated by plenty of greenery. We’re heading directly east, with a slight dip southwards around the outskirts of Gouda. There’s a tailwind, the sun is out, and I have the satisfaction of having snared my Z this morning. What’s not to like about today?
Before Gouda though, there’s a need to stop for lunch (pancakes after parkrun can only take us so far). The little village of Moordrecht turns up – perched charmingly on the banks of the large Hollandsche Ijssel canal. There’s a small bike-and-car ferry to watch. There’s an inviting wee café. Someone is playing the church carillon bells. And the main street has decorative banners created from what looks like the villagers’ weekly wash. Perhaps it is. We stop for lunch.
After Gouda we know we’re on the final stretch. Our destination is a self-contained apartment on a working dairy farm near Oudewater. At Haastrecht, we stop at the Co-op to buy provisions, filling our already-full crevices for the remainder of the trip. Bruce’s new trunk bag earns its keep, in my eyes, when he pops a bottle of rose into its bottle holder. Well, I assume that’s what it was made for, surely? Anyway, it has been empty for far too long.
Our accommodation is fine, fortunately, as we’re here for three nights. There’s plenty of space downstairs, a loft bedroom, a cat snoozing on the terrace outside, background farmyard smells and sounds . . and only one wine glass. Oh well.
Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 1,204 km (748 miles)
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