Europe 2014: Into the wind we ride...

Today's distance: 81km (50 Miles)

The camping last night was not ideal as it initially looked. There must have been some steel plant nearby (I saw a Tata Steel sign as we rode into town) because we could hear them through the night working with heavy equipment. The Advil PM pill seemed to counteract the noise and we slept ok.

The weekend is coming soon and the unusually good weather will drive most of the Dutch out of their homes to the coast, so we went ahead and booked a B&B near the top of mainland Holland in a town called Westerland. This used to be an island but those greedy Dutch reclaimed most of the land from the sea around it and it is part of the mainland now. The B&B owner told us later that the residents there are still in denial about that happening, even if it was 90 years ago..

The ride today was a little tougher since we were pushing against the wind. Still very happy that it is warm and sunny out. I am sure there must be global warning at play since I have never seen it so sunny in Holland for so long. We supposedly missed several weeks of wet cold weather according to the locals, so maybe we have a guardian angel with us on our trip?

Took a side trip to Alkmaar where they have the cheese market with guys in the funny hats and klompen (wooden shoes) running around with large cheese wheels between them. Well, they must have figured that most of the tourists had left Holland by now so they didn't put on that ceremonial show after the end of August. That was ok with us since we had seen it before..

Made the usual coffee/appelgebak and beer stops before reaching Westerland and another wonderful B&B. This one is part of an old farm house. Added another few km in the evening to ride into Hippolytushoef (say that 5 times fast..). Had a fabulous meal at an Italian restaurant where we probably had a few glasses of red wine too many. Made it back to the B&B without riding off the bike path.. Another great day!!