1500 km!!!

July 18, 2022

on a teeny weeny bike around Otterlo

So, actually 1502 km as of today. Most of you reading this will say "ho hum", that is so pedestrian - ok, wrong word - but for us, we are a little surprised it was so easy. We do wish we could keep going! However...have you heard about the "killer heat wave hitting Europe"? It will be 39 tomorrow, and we have a 57 km ride to Naarden planned. Plans change. We will stay in Otterlo another night, and train to Amsterdam on Wednesday, skipping Naarden and only bike a bit around here tomorrow until it gets super hot.

So why Otterlo? It is on the edge of a national park here, the Hoge Veluwe park, and contains the Kroller-Muller museum which houses the 2nd largest collection of van Gogh's among many other paintings and sculptures.

Before I get off the topic of trains though, if you haven't been to Europe in a while (or ever), its amazing how "easy" it is to use trains after just a few trips. The apps are pretty good for schedules and even payment, and - here's an example - they tell you which side the next stop platform is on. Small thing perhaps if you don't have a bike, but so many small things. Like being on time....when we lived in Holland years ago, the entire Board of Directors of Trains resigned because the on-time performance had slipped....to 92%! The horror!

So we started out riding from our hotel through this beautiful forest on a type of packed gravel I haven't seen before. Noisy as you crunch through it, but great biking surface. I would expect no less.

Then all of a sudden we are in Uganda. I mean, really this could be the African plain. Sand and scrub. And now the heat was more apparent as the direct sun was searing.

you'd never know you were in the Netherlands

How is this possible. The Netherlands. Hills NW of Arnhem (see yesterday's entry). And now sand dunes.

When you get to the entrance of the National Park, you see a forest of bicycles. You are allowed (encouraged) to take one and cycle away! There are dozens of km of paths here, and as we had our own bicycles already, we didn't partake.

free bikes all with a child carrier on back

Helene Kroller-Muller was one of the first to recognize van Gogh's genius and started buying up his paintings. Due to her husbands wealth, they outbid anyone else and accumulated an enormous collection of art. Upon their death, they bequeathed the entire collection which became this museum, and their estate became this national park. Wow.

Wikipedia Entry for Museum

cafe in Paris. van Gogh liked this painting a lot. I think it was my favourite as well.

The painting below was apparently Helene's favourite. She outbid the asking price by 5x. In the museum, it says their wealth was essentially unlimited.

Outside the museum there are dozens of sculptures on sumptuous grounds to see. This is the iconic art at the entry/exit of the museum.

We had kept track of our kilometres. At the exact point where we hit 1,500 km we took this photo. Yay team!

Biking "home", a bit somber passed all the posters of the boys who gave their lives to free Otterlo in WW2, 75 years ago.

Our stay for 3 nights. A thoroughly wonderful place for "adults only". Don't get any ideas....

Today's ride: 10 km (6 miles)
Total: 1,502 km (933 miles)

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