Kinderdijk, Netherlands Travel Journals & Blogs

Traveler To Amsterdam and beyond
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- May 30, 2023, 10:51am
- ⛅ 15 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- Netherlands South Holland Molenwaard Kinderdijk 51.888421, 4.63725351°53’18” N 4°38’14” E
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Day 25
Surrounded by water
May 30, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
Last night I tried out welcometomygarden, a perfect description. I camped in the garden of some cyclists and they were incredibly welcoming.
Today was full of windmills and water, birds and fledglings (or should that be waterlings), waterboats and getting mildly lost surprisingly often (as in hmm I can’t get there as there is a canal in the way, now what?).Read more
Traveler The wind is really working those sails! Amazing to watch! :-)
6/3/23Reply
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John Bickerstaff Low Countries cycle
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- Aug 18, 2022, 1:02pm
- ⛅ 23 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- Netherlands South Holland Molenwaard Kinderdijk Noord 51.888333, 4.6251°53’18” N 4°37’12” E
Day 2
Windmill frenzy.
August 18, 2022 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Made it to the ferry jetty just as it was leaving. Rats. Next one was half an hour. Settled down with some strawberries & proceeded to try & sort out some issues with the sat nav. I did not. Anyway the ferry left packed with bikes - off to Kinderdijk - apparently a world heritage site - unlike Liverpool. It is an area harking back to when windmills were everywhere in Holland and there really were tonnes of them. On leaving the ferry you were directed to a path & there were windmills wherever you looked pushed on beyond the masses & it was a pretty peaceful place disturbed only by the occasional boat trip. A visit here was always the plan but the original route had been a little circuitous so I thought I'd try to find a shortcut. Messed around with the sat nav & it appeared that 30 miles had been turned into 20. Pushed on with the new route except I hadn't read carefully. The 20 was what had done & when I looked a little while later what I had left to cycle was a rather grim 65. Panicked. Reason then took over. The scenic route originally was 50 so it couldn't be 65. Did some on the hoof navigation. Tolerated some bridge issues, diversions and a heavy shower. Made it to Breda - birthplace of the Big Man and the hotel was in the middle of an industrial estate. Not really a problem since the neighbouring hotel had a restaurant, except it didn't - short staffed. So had a pleasant / bizarre evening walk through the industrial estate to the nearby retail park. Almost succumbed to the promise of Aircon in McDonalds but resisted & had a dollop of pasta.Read more
Liz Bickerstaff Yay! Windmills!
8/19/22Reply
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Traveler River Cruise 2022
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- Nov 8, 2022, 3:00pm
- ☁️ 16 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- Netherlands South Holland Molenwaard Kinderdijk 51.888451, 4.63713551°53’18” N 4°38’14” E
Day 26
Kinderdijk
November 8, 2022 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Kinderdijk, 7 metres below sea level and surrounded by dikes. The mills pump water from the canals into the river. The peat soil contains and retains lots of water. We travel by vintage barge, the Jantina, built in 1896, along the canals to the oldest mill dating back to the 1600’s. Other mills in this complex are from the 1700’s and 1800’s.Read more
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Traveler River Cruise 2022
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- Nov 8, 2022, 4:00pm
- ☁️ 15 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- Netherlands South Holland Molenwaard Kinderdijk 51.8885, 4.637151°53’19” N 4°38’14” E
Day 26
Historical Windmills
November 8, 2022 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
The oldest mill, 1600’s - the whole of the top is able to be rotated manually by pulley to face into the wind. Stone construction, as a house, at the bottom, timber above that.
The 1700’s mills were made mostly from stone with a rotating top. Built rather like a lighthouse, the stone mills are too heavy for the peat soil and are subject to sinking.
The 1800’s mills were mostly wooden and lighter on the peat soil. The upper wind mechanism works on a series of rollers underneath the mill cap.Read more
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Olddustyboots.com Belgium, France and Holland
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- Apr 10, 2023, 12:00pm
- ☁️ 13 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- Netherlands South Holland Molenwaard Kinderdijk 51.886377, 4.63860451°53’11” N 4°38’19” E
Day 8
The windmills of Kinderdijk
April 10, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
Amidst rainy and windy conditions, we journeyed to the Kinderdijk park where we walked among windmills built in the late 1600's. The Netherlands used to have 10,000 windmills, but now they number around 1,200, 19 of which stand in this park. Many of these structures have people live in them and they're still working at pumping water out of the poldir or flat land.
One windmill is set up as it would have been back in the 1700's, and we were able to go inside to see how it's family would have lived. There isn't a ton of space inside a windmill, but what room they had was used efficiently, with beds touched into the walls and storage tucked into every corner.. Steep stairs led up to each new level and I had to descend backwards like climbing down a ladder when I returned to the lower floors. It would have been cosy for a family and I think the parents would be telling their kids to go outside to play every chance they got.
We learned that we have incorporated windmill sayings into our language. For example, the sails on a windmill have to be opened in pairs or the windmill is off balance. Thus the saying that someone who has drank too much is wobbly and "3 sheets to the wind". Another example is crazy people were said to have been hit on the head by a windmill and then the person makes a circle with their finger, mimicking the rotation of the windmill sails.
What an experience! We returned to our bus soggy, cold, but happy!Read more
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Traveler EUROPE 2023 🗺️🎒🛩️
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- Aug 10, 2023, 11:11am
- ☀️ 19 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- Netherlands South Holland Molenwaard Kinderdijk 51.879612, 4.6445551°52’47” N 4°38’40” E
Day 53
Rotterdam Day 2- Kinderdijk
August 10, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Today was another one of my favourite days that I’ve had! How lovely. Yesterday, Lititia had convinced me to go on a small day trip with her to Kinderdijk which is a 40 minute boat ride from Rotterdam. So we met at my hostel around 9:30am and set off to catch the boat. Once we arrived, the weather was a bit gloomy, but our spirits were not! We rented bikes, and I got a kids bike and it sucked also LOL (the handlebrakes and bell didn’t work, it made a really funny noise, couldn’t adjust the seat). We biked all around the area which is littered with windmills. We didn’t get to go into one because we didn’t wanna pay, but we saw lots and lots of them and it was very fairytale- esque. There were lots of animals- cows, horses, sheep! It was lovely. We were also very adamant about not using a map for a while, but then somehow ended up in some residential area and got very very lost. But, we did find out way back. I was pooooooped after. We took the boat back and I slept. Then we went our separate ways for a bit to refresh. I had a nap and then took a walk to a nearby park that was very very beautiful! There was a stream that flowed in the middle and it was dirty, but the park was still very very pretty. Green and lush and had trees lining the stream, pretty flowers in some areas, and people were just relaxing. After, I walked towards Lititia’s hostel and walked past what I call “the egg” which is a museum, that I unfortunately never got to actually go inside. Lititia’s hostel is really cool it’s like these cube houses, she showed me the inside and it was pretty cool. We went to eat at the Markthal for real this time, and we both got gyros. Then, we went back to the egg and went to the architecture and design museum across from it, because there was free entry on Thursday evenings. I wasn’t a huge fan of the museum, but it was something to do. We went to watch the sunset at the nearby bridge, which, the sun was actually blocked by the tall buildings, but, we still saw the pink sky. After this, we met up with her hostelmate and we had a drink nearby her hostel. We grabbed some McFlurry’s as they walked me home, and we said a very sad goodbye.

Also side note is that Rotterdam is so different from so many of the cities that I’ve been to because it’s quite modern and newer, since much of it was destroyed in the world war.Read more
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World Vagabonding Chapter 1
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- Jan 9, 2024, 12:30pm
- ☀️ -2 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- Netherlands South Holland Molenwaard Kinderdijk 51.887835, 4.6379151°53’16” N 4°38’16” E
Day 35
Day 35: Kinderdijk
January 9 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ -2 °C
Nineteen windmills for the nineteenth centuries! Kinderdijk is below sea level and instead of fighting the wind and the water, the windmills have been working hard to keep the area dry. It’s nice to see the working windmills in Kinderdijk.Read more
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Beverley Smith Europe2019
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- Jun 24, 2019, 10:00am
- ⛅ 25 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- Netherlands South Holland Molenwaard Kinderdijk 51.88374, 4.6330951°53’1” N 4°37’59” E
Day 33
Kinderdijk Netherlands
June 24, 2019 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
Today started with a short sail before disembarking for a short ride to Kinderdijk famous for its iconic 18th-century windmills. Its water-management network features 19 mills and 3 pumping stations, plus dykes and reservoirs that control flooding in the polder (low-lying land). Waterways, footpaths and bike trails crisscross the area, leading to the main visitors centre where we got to go inside a preserved working windmill. This was our main stop today as we had about 50kms to ride by 3:30pm to where our boat was waiting to set sail again to reach our final destination for the night - Willemstad.Read more
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Traveler Wohnmobil Abenteuer 2018
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- Sep 14, 2018, 12:30pm
- ☀️ 18 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- Netherlands South Holland Molenwaard Kinderdijk 51.88886, 4.6369351°53’20” N 4°38’13” E
Day 5
Die Windmühlen von Kinderdijk
September 14, 2018 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
Amsterdam haben wir am heutigen Morgen den Rücken gekehrt und uns aufgemacht in Richtung Küste. Erste Station heute: die Windmühlen von Kinderdijk.
Für Wohnmobilfahrer ist die Parksituation ein Graus.
Der Ausblick auf die Mühlen über das Moor belohnt jedoch.Read more
See translation
489days Reise um die Welt Das sieht ja cool aus mit den Windmühlen.
9/16/18Reply
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Traveler Holland Rundreise
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- Jun 23, 2019
- ⛅ 24 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- Netherlands South Holland Molenwaard Kinderdijk 51.88, 4.6416751°52’48” N 4°38’30” E
1
Day 5
Kinderdijk und Dordrecht
June 23, 2019 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
Nachdem wir uns jetzt kurzfristig doch gegen die großen Städte Amsterdam und Rotterdam entschieden haben, fuhren wir heute morgen auf den Wohnmobilstellplatz nach Alblasserdam, wo wir ein schönes Plätzchen neben den Yachten ergattern konnten.
Von hier aus ging es mit dem Fahrrad erst zu den Windmühlen nach Kinderdijk und dann in das älteste Städtchen Hollands, nach Dordrecht. Die Bilder sprechen für sich...
Ach übrigens, das ist keine Pizza sondern Pfannkuchen 😋Read more
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Traveler Ober mega lecker.
6/23/19Reply
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