Three days of riding - 1) from Haarlem to Leiden; 2) from Leiden to Gouda and 3) from Gouda to Dordrecht. We set out on Sunday morning and went west to the coast of the Netherlands. I'm personally falling in love with the Netherlands simply because I am in awe of their transportation systems; road networks; bike paths. The buses are frequently on dedicated roads and lanes which means that they move from location to location quickly and efficiently. One one of our bus rides the bus stopped and announcements in dutch and english informed us that the bus would pause for two minutes because it was ahead of schedule. We've now ridden about 150 kilometers - none of those were on roads of any particular significance. That is not to say they are irrelevant - for the few residents and cars that travel along them, they definitely are not - and for us cyclists they provide excellent ways of getting around. Much of our riding has been on dedicated cycleways. Cyclists share these paths with motorized scooters, so they are not limited to bicycles, but the vast majority of users are cyclists. In the centers of the cities we've visited there are more cyclists than automobiles and in many cases the motorists are required to give the right of way to cyclists. It slows traffic down and has taken some work on our part to be able to recognize who has right of way in what circumstances. Bike paths encountering traffic circles frequently require motorists to yield to cyclists before entering, or leaving the traffic circle. At T intersections and crosswalks the path will be marked with triangles and yield signs will require bicycles to yield right of way to vehicles. At more important intersections lights for pedestrians, cars and cyclists are syncronized with one another, although cyclists and pedestrians must push a button or other gadget. A timer will often indicated the wait time until the appropriate light will become green. Once one is familiar with the different methodologies of determining right of way it is very easy to maneuver around the various intersections.
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Somewhere in the distance is Scotland (I think)
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Our ride from Haarlem to Leiden followed the coast for about 1/2 the ride. The path, it was after all Sunday, was packed with people out enjoying the day. People were running, walking, picnicking, riding horses, cycling on cruisers, cycling on road bikes in pelotons. The day was reasonably nice - a high of about 15 degrees, with little wind. There were many simply spending their day at the beach. The cycleway wound through the sand dunes, which are protected land, which meant we only had a couple of views of the North Sea but we did spot deer, lots of different types of shore birds, and people watching at stops along the way. We visited a small museum to the "Englandvaanders" in a bunker built by the Germans in World War 2. It told the story of some who escaped, or tried to escape, to England during the occupation by the Germans. Many died, but others went on to serve the Netherlands in significant ways through the Allied forces - as soldiers, pilots, spies and more. It was an interesting side trip along the way and fit well with our visit to the "Resistance Museum" in Amsterdam prior to going to Portugal.
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| The windmill in Leiden |
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Sunday afternoon on the canal
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In Lieden there was a slight hiccup in our accommodations. The hotel we were expecting to stay in was overbooked and we had been moved to another hotel for the night. It was a little disappointing as the original plan was a boutique hotel in the center of the older part of the city. It was amazing again to us as we arrived in Leiden to see the activity outside on Sunday afternoon. The walkers, runners, cyclists were ubiquitous; but one of the more unique sights were the boaters out enjoying the afternoon in the canals of the city. Leiden is a university town and it was apparent in the relative youth of the people passing on the street. The restaurants we had available to select on a Sunday evening were a little limited - the hotel restaurant was one option; we hoped a seafood restaurant with good reviews might be our choice but it was closed until Tuesday; which lead us to another option - an eclectic restaurant in a former large home close to the train station and hotel where we were relocated after our first option was unavailable. One entered the restaurant by passing through the front door and entering a small room to the left with the name of the restaurant on a small brass plate preceeded by "Mr." What confused was that the small room appeared a first glance to be a small vestibule with no way out. There were some plants, strollers, a cabinet for coats. After a couple of false starts, with more people coming out of the vestibule than going in, we realized that the cabinet provided the main entrance to the restaurant. It was like visiting Narnia. The restaurant was funky taking advantage of the obvious features of what had been a fine home at one time in it's past.
A good night's sleep and we began our ride to Gouda. We were looking forward to the opportunity to experience the fine cheese that we know so well in our part of the world in it's original setting. The ride took us through polders that were now home to a wide variety of greenhouses and farms. In the first part of the ride we followed paths through a region that at one time had been known for it's fruit production. Over time the concentration of orchards and fruit has moved to trees and plants for landscaping. Property after property demonstrated what can be made of a garden and a good landscape artist or gardener. It was, again, quiet paths and roadways through beautiful places. It was cooler and despite a dry forecast we hit a bit of rain as we came closer to Gouda. Winding our way through Gouda we reached out hotel at the rear of St. John's church. St. John's church was originally built as a Catholic Cathedral. It is one of the largest churches in the Netherlands. In the course of the reformation the burghers of the town adopted Protestantism and the church became a protestant building. The original architecture remains, but the interior has been converted to a protestant building. The choir loft, which in a Catholic church is where communion is prepared and served has been converted. The pews which originally all faced in the same direction are today in a semi-circle around the pulpit symbolizing and recognizing the importance of preaching and interpreting the gospel in Protestant worship. The windows in St. John's include some of the oldest examples of painted stained glass in the world. Sandy, who has reminded me that we've been in ABC - "Another Bloody Church" or "Another Bloody Castle" - suddenly found Jesus as she wandered the building admiring the windows and listening to the audio tour provided as part of our admission. Speaking of the reformation - our hotel, a former convent, provided space for our bicycles for the night in their "wedding chapel." Our room, on the top floor was large with a loft ceiling. The building had been home to Erasmus a contemporary of Martin Luther who debated, in his writings, on behalf of the Catholic faith some of Luther's tenets about the reformation. While Erasmus was supportive of Luther's ideas about the availability of scripture to the average person through the languages of the day (at the time worship was in Latin where most people were now speaking Dutch, French, English...); but at the same time there were important ideas of the tradition that needed to be maintained. Erasmus challenged what he saw to be Luther's hypocrisy and remained Catholic. (It's a rather simplistic interpretation in my words - and probably somewhat mis-informing). The point is that Gouda has significant and important ties to our own faith traditions today. It was an honour to visit.
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Erasmus - a preacher with his mouth open...
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Gouda town hall
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| From the front |
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| some of the windows at St. John's church in Gouda |
From Gouda we rode south to Dordrecht. For most of the day we rode through pasture. There are 17000 dairy farms in the Netherlands. Pastures that had cattle, sheep, goat and LOTS of avian wildlife. We've seen plenty of nesting ducks, swans, herons and other birds along the way. Our route took us past old windmills and ultimately to the shores of the Rhine River. In fact, three rivers come together at Dordrecht. Initially, we were tired from our ride, but after a shower and rest we wandered our way out for dinner and explored the old town. We passed a monument to William of Orange who brought together the independant states of the Netherlands in the 1500's. We saw building along canals that were as old or older. It's another place to come back to as I've come to appreciate how little I know of the history of this country...
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