Find day 2 here
In my head this was going to be a relatively easy day although with just shy of 140km it was pretty similar in distance to Day 1 but it had significantly less ascent (around 400m instead of 1500m). Problem was it wasn’t exactly an early start, but a relaxed one. The ferry was due in Amsterdam at 10am local time and was probably a bit early as I did start cycling just after 10.
The whole ferry experience was very relaxed. It didn’t seem too full, food was good but I didn’t sleep all that well. The cabin seemed very warm (or I was). Cycling through passport control, I handed over my Austrian passport and was asked if I was cycling home: “I am indeed!” and off I went.
Today’s route would take me along the Dutch coastline towards Belgium taking me initially through the Zuid-Kennermerland National Park, past the Zandvoort Formula 1 circuit and then through the dunes before skirting past The Hague and through bits of the vast port area of Rotterdam-Europort. From there it was onto the islands of the South Holland and Zeeland regions.
My chosen route for the trip wasn’t the most direct but I’d picked a few highlights I wanted to tick off (Cobbled Classics climbs in Belgium, Ardennes National Park, the Vosges mountains in France and the Black Forest in Germany). Heading down the Dutch coast therefore made sense to get my first tick in the box.
I was enjoying both National Park, coast and dunes and stopped rather often to take pictures and admire the cycling infrastructure. I stopped at a beach restaurant in the Noordwijk for lunch and suddenly became aware that it was nearly 2pm and I’d still got around 100km to cover that day.
My booked accommodation was around 3km away from the nearest town and therefore 3km from the nearest place for dinner. I therefore didn’t just have to get there, but get there, check in, have a shower and then head into town for dinner.
My relatively easy day suddenly became a bit less easy. What I noticed throughout the cycle trip was that built up areas would slow me down, due to traffic, traffic lights and navigation at times. The cycling infrastructure in The Netherlands was a real bonus here as I hardly got held up through traffic. The navigation on the cycle computer also coped with this well, navigating me on cycle paths, cycle routes etc. instead of roads. It pretty much got that right throughout the trip.
First though I was heading through the vast dune landscapes with this amazing bike path going through them used by pretty much any type of cyclist and it seemed to go on forever. I thought I’d never get to The Hague.
I was aware I had a ferry crossing at some point on today’s ride. I turned a corner and there it was. It seemed that cars and bikes were just piling on as I got there, so I joined them and asked a guy about paying. ‘bikes go free until 7pm’ was the response. Yes! Ferry crossing took 5 minutes and I was on my way again. Stroke of luck that one. Now I was pretty much on an island riding through fields and villages with mostly a cross-tailwind. The next water crossings would be via dams and sluices which were exceptionally impressive. At one point I was riding on this dam with the sea on one side and a town on the other (this was either today or the following day). The town was probably at or below sea level with me riding 20m above it.
Thank God for the wind direction being mostly favourable, the roads and bike path being super smooth and no significant climbs. My aim was to get to the accommodation by 6pm again but this was looking increasingly unlikely. I was also not entirely confident as to how exact my mapped mileage was compared to what I was going to end up with. I needn’t have worried on that front and it would show of the coming days that mapped route and actual distance would be very similar except if there were deliberate detours.
I rolled into the forecourt of the B&B I had booked at 6:30pm. On the door there was a note asking guests to check in by 6pm. I was sure that hadn’t been mentioned on booking.com. I rang the bell and everything seemed fine, rushed to my room to sort myself out and shower before getting back on the bike (without luggage) and head into town for dinner – pizza and a beer.
Onto Day 4 here.
Stats for the day:
Planned Distance: 137km
Actual Distance: 138.08km
Trip Distance: 339.31km
Ascent for the day: 468m
Ascent for the trip: 2341m
Riding time: 6:47:42 hrs (not including return trip for dinner)
Riding time for the trip: 17:35:06 hrs