From Emmen to Dalfsen a small town near Zwolle: The heat has gone but we had a mighty head wind all day

August 23, 2012

Emmen is certainly not the most exciting town I have been to, the hotel however was comfortable . In the morning with, the huge Summer Market over, the place looked absolutely deserted and I could recognize nothing. We were still struggling a bit with navigation but I think we are getting a little better and after stopping at the tourist information in Coevorden and buying a detailed map of the area things improved even more.

Today it looked as if we were cycling in Holland – not suprising really as that was where we were. We travelled along canals and watched the bridges being lifted so barges could pass through, we saw the odd old windmill and many new wind generators enjoying today’s strong wind. There were herds of fresian cows eating lush looking grass and Ken thought that there were only about 40 cows per herd in this area. The towns were mostly fairly modern and we saw few old buildings in them – probably just a feature of this part of Holland. Out in the country we went through one little village where all the beautiful old houses were thatched. There are lots of thatched buildings including thatched windmills. The most peculiar were the rooves which were part thatched and part tiled, probably where there had been additions I think.

It was a long push against the fierce head wind into the small town of Dalfsen recommended to us by the Tourist Info in Coevorden . This means that tomorrow we can turn west and avoid the large city of Zwolle as we don’t do big cities well

A lovely statue of the goose girl in the town square in Coevorden

The first fisherman we have seen on the canals

If we had mail delivery at our place this is the mail box Ken would like - the John Deere tractor is very similar to the first one his father had. And he tells me it would be very collectable

In New Zealand all hydrangers have round flower heads, here a lot are pointed

We follow these, usually they have destinations on all 4 sides

Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 1,089 km (676 miles)

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