Europe 2014: Hello Holland!

Today's distance: 78km (49 Miles)

Forgot to add yesterday's mileage and route map to that post. Now corrected..

I got up a little earlier than Linda and decided to walk around the center of Ghent in search of coffee. Most of you probably already know that most Europeans are usually not morning persons, at least as far as most businesses and eating establishments go. It was 7:30am and pretty much every place was closed shut and not planning to open until later in the morning or afternoon. Even Starbucks which noted for opening up early had their opening time set for 9am. I finally found an old coffee roasting place down an alley where I was able to get a couple of cups to go to take back to our hotel room.

It was a beautiful sunny, crisp day and we set off out of Ghent towards the Dutch border. The ride for most of the day was fantastic on bike paths or dedicated bike lanes. We got to enjoy some great scenery along the way without having to worry about getting run off the road. You could gradually sense the transition from Belgium (more forested and hilly) to west Holland which had wide open farm fields with more regimented placement of trees along streets and canals. We love both types of sceneries, just different. You could also begin to notice the difference between the people as well. The Belgians are typically more reserved and usually don't make eye contact. The Dutch seem more outgoing and will greet a stranger more readily. There are always exceptions especially when we got a big thumbs up from an elderly Belgian sports rider shouting words of encouragement. It really put a big smile on our faces!

We finally rolled into Breskens which is right on one of the sea inlets in Zeeland, the Dutch province we were in. We had a nice lunch and headed for the ferry to get to Vlissingen. We were amazed to see that the ferry service was solely for bicycles and pedestrians only. The cars had to cross through a tunnel about 50km further inland. The whole ferry entrance was done so that you could your bike ride in, buy a ticket and practically ride onto the Ferry (they did want you to walk your bike on for safety reasons). It was a nice and quick ride over to the other side. These ferries are dual hulled and go a lot faster than the ones we have in North Carolina!

Got off on the other side and rode to Middleburg which is one of the oldest towns in Holland. It was a great ride along a canal with with bicyclists everywhere in all shapes, sizes, ages, and genders You quickly see why bicycling is such an essential part of life in Holland whether for sport, work, school, shopping, or simply getting an ice cream on a sunny day. We passed many large groups of teenagers on bikes seeming to have a great time together apparently on their way home from school. Had to make use of the trusty bicycle bell several times to have them make room for us to pass on the bike path. Got a lot of laughs, giggles, and funny looks when us "old" folks rode by on little bicycles, lots of bright yellow bags strapped to them, and helmets on our heads. I will say that only 2 in 500 cyclists in Holland wears a bicycle helmet... We seemed to be one of those two..

We took a break in Middelburg and had a beer in the outside cafe on the main market square. Great location for people watching. The old church next to us must have had a marathon wedding thing going on. We saw at least four couples drive up in wedding regalia right behind each other. When one couple would leave the church, the next group would arrive and repeat the process. Must have been some of the quickest wedding ceremonies we have ever seen. Maybe it was the nice weather that prompted it all?

Headed over to the local Telco shop (Vodafone) to buy a prepaid data Sim for my Ipad so that I could still get access to the Internet and email without wifi. The plan for tonight is to find a campground since the weather is so nice. We also wanted to make sure we got at least some use of all that camping stuff we are hauling around Europe! The blog for today will be posted online complements of the new SIM card (hopefully).

We finally were able to find a camping spot near a town called Oostkapelle at a local farm. There is more to that story, but it is late and have already been too long winded on this blog post... I will sign off and leave you with a few pics of the day..