Out Of Mothballs

Breakfast on the barge is from 7.15am to 8.30am so we set the alarm to ensure we were up 'n' showered in time. The barge was already in motion by the time we started eating, making its way to Vianen where we would start our cycle tour.

Part of the breakfast ritual will be to make our own packed lunch each day. The breakfast buffet includes fruit, breadrolls, sliced meats and cheeses, salad items, and pastries ... plenty on offer to fill our brown paper lunch bags.

Fortified by a big breakfast, and with our lunch supplies packed into the bike panniers, we set off to cycle through Netherlands and Belgium. Today's route covered 60.3 km, it was quite flat (not surprising) but very windy (also not surprising given this is the land of windmills).

Navigating was quite easy once we got the hang of it. Instead of a map, we had a list of numbers. Every intersection, or connection, of the cycle paths or routes has a number, and there is a signpost at every intersection so you know which direction will take you to your next number.

The first part of the ride took us through a couple of small towns and many kilometres of what we think were originally linear settlements along a small canal. The second part was more rural, and we battled a strong headwind as we rode through the Kinderdijk UNESCO site. Unfortunately the weather was dull and grey so our photos of this very scenic area are all the same colour.

Our ride concluded at a ferry terminal, we very luckily arrived at the same time as the ferry was docking. This took us south to Dordrecht, where the barge was moored for the night. The ferry ride was part of the official route, we didn't just give up and catch it instead of riding the last section :-)Læs mere