Countryside tour

August 20, 2018

Instead of turning left out of the gate this morning we ride to the far end of our country lane, Zwartepad, straight past our favourite windmill café, Het Teehouse (it is a little too early for them, unfortunately, ) and in a nor-westerly direction to the sand dunes.

Today's route is a countryside loop, taking us up to and along the dunes of the North Sea Canal before heading roughly south through Haarlem, then closing the loop on the outskirts of Amsterdam and repeating the leg back to Zwartepad.

It's an overcast, breezy but dry morning. Summer in Europe has been very hot, apparently, but we've come at the tail end of the season. So it's another warm jacket kind of day, then.

I have a bad feeling as we cycle past our local café. Countryside and coffee stops do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. We're in danger of missing out on one of life's necessary little rituals - that mid-morning cup of happiness. Three years in the future, I cannot exactly remember whether I whined about this at the time, but odds are that I made my displeasure known.

Approaching the North Sea Canal, just one more waterway to cross . . . once this bridge is lowered

Never mind, the ride is interesting - and in stark contrast to cycling in the city. We stop in Haarlem for an early lunch and to pay homage to its solid, yet beautiful buildings. It has an air of prosperity about it, which Wikipedia confirms:

"Haarlem has a rich history dating back to pre-medieval times, as it lies on a thin strip of land above sea level known as the strandwal, which connects Leiden to Alkmaar. The people on this narrow strip of land struggled against the waters of the North Sea from the west, and the waters of the IJ and the Haarlem Lake from the east. Haarlem became wealthy with toll revenues that it collected from ships and travellers moving on this busy north–south route. However, as shipping became increasingly important economically, the city of Amsterdam became the main Dutch city of North Holland during the Dutch Golden Age . . . Haarlem became a quiet bedroom community, and for this reason still has many of its central medieval buildings intact".

Thanks, Wikipedia. No one need ever die wondering...

And, to finish, an excerpt from the reporter on the spot, who was in a much happier space after her Haarlem coffee infusion:

" There's also the visual trickery involved in existing on land that is below sea level. We explored the countryside as well as the city, cycling many kilometres along canal paths and through nature reserves. It was disconcerting, at first, to observe that the fast-flowing body of water on your left was some metres higher than the polders (drained fields) to your right. Dykes, canals, drainage channels, locks and lifting bridges – all are testament to the ingenuity of the ancient engineers who conjured land from water. Schipol airport lies in a hollow four metres below sea level. Just amazing."

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Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 107 km (66 miles)

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