July 30, 2013
The great Dutch windmill hunt: Country bagging at its best
I've been to the Netherlands loads of times on my bicycle, so country-bagging was once again the order of the day. Just a quick dip in and out to see how everyone was getting on over the border before returning to Germany. But despite the brevity of my visit, I was once again determined to have an authentic country experience and set out to find myself a proper Dutch windmill. The first one I spotted was three feet tall and in someone's garden, and I decided did not count. Then I spotted this through a fence:
Hmm, still not really a real windmill. I scoured the landscape in search of a proper one as I rode. I was skirting the border with Germany as I headed north and I realised half the countryside I was scouring probably wasn't even in the right country. No matter, I saw nothing and it grew late and started raining and I camped in some woods here:
In the morning I cycled onwards as the skies cleared and passed through a small village and as I rounded the corner I came face to face with this:
Wow! I couldn't believe it! What a joyous moment ths was for me. I have to be honest that ever since the epic failure of my great Belgian waffle hunt there had been a dark cloud hanging over me that nothing, not even the love of a good woman, could lift. Nothing that is, until this glorious moment when a real proper Dutch windmill stood before me. It was old and worn down and motionless, but it was real and it was proper.
I cycled onwards along fantasic cycle lanes happy as can be, when lo and behold a fly went smack into my left eye. I closed it instinctively, braked and grabbed down at my mirror to remove the offending bug. It fell from my eye before I had the chance and landed on my brake lever. I stopped and studied it. It was an average size fly, not one of the big ugly ones, not one of the really small ones. It looked dazed and staggered to right itself, then began to clean itself. I watched. It had lost one of its wings, I realised sadly, and I considered killing it briefly to put it out of its misery, for it was surely destined for a slow death in its deformed state. But I just watched as it continued to clean itself methodically with its legs. Then I noticed that it still had the wing, it was just stuck to its abdomen. And as it continued cleaning itself, and I continued to stare mesmorised, the wing came free and the fly cleaned it a little more, steadied itself, and flew away. It was a miracle. I had given this poor little insect up for dead and it had risen and lived again. It was a stone-cold fly miracle. I was stunned. As I rode on I considered the implications, it made me think about euthanasia. It made me think especially about fly euthanasia. Where there's life there's hope. This fly had proved it.
And then as if one miracle wasn't enough for one day, I rounded another corner and saw a fully functional real and proper windmill that was actually spinning in the wind. Day of days, what a country!
NETHERLANDS SUMMARY:
Time: One day and a bit
Distance: 102km
Windmills spotted: Two
Best bits: Windmills and fly miracles
Worst bits: All the flies that went in my eyes and didn't make it
Top Tip: One kilo pots of potato salad can be had for just one euro fifty and makes a great healthy touring food when mixed with tomato and beans
Today's ride: 102 km (63 miles)
Total: 1,267 km (787 miles)
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