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We had a four day weekend last week due to the German/Catholic holiday Frohnleichnam so Rich and I decided to ride to Amsterdam which is about 150 miles due west of Muenster.
We left around 6 pm on Wednesday evening. Wednesday evenings ride took us through Burgsteinfurt, the sight of a classic Westphalian moated castle. Around 20 km past Burgsteinfurt, we set up camp for the night in a small woods. The next morning we got up at dawn and rode into Enschede in the Netherlands. We spent around an hour exploring Enshede which has a nice pedestrian zone but is not nearly as charming as Muenster. We did manage to get a cycling map of the Netherlands, good directions for our trip and some delicious frites (French Fries). Most of the day we spent meandering across the Netherlands through small towns and farm land.
In the late afternoon, we rode through Sallandse Heuvelrug National Park. The park consists of some nice forests and moors on some rolling hills they call “mountains”. See the picture below. That night we camped along the Ijssel river.
Fridays journey began with a ferry shuttle across the Ijssel river and then a ride through the northern regions of De Huge Veluwe National Park, another region of forests and fens. About mid-day we crossed over the Zuiderzee and rode along the north shore of the Sea for the rest of the Afternoon. Much of our route was along a dike although some of it passed through forests. We didn’t see any of the historic windmills along this route but saw a large assortment of modern wind turbines. One string of double bladed turbines had the support poles painted in different pastel shades so that they created a rainbow as you looked down the line of turbines. It was a windy day so we saw many sailboats, windsurfers, kite surfers and the like out on the sea. There were several high prowed wooden traditional Dutch boats with brown sails out. I don’t know if there was some sort of rally or race but it made an excellent show.
On our way into Amsterdam that evening we stop to puruse an 18th century fortress and castle and snack on patat (French fries) and fricadela (a deep fried dutch sausage). The traffic going into Amsterdam was a major snarl but luckily we had nice bicycle routes that kept us largely out of traffic. At one point, the bicycle route was paralleling the freeway. There had been a major accident so it was stop and go along the freeway. Even at our tourist speed, we were zooming past the cars. This turned out to be somewhat unfortunate because many of the cars decide to take the small frontage rode that was our bicycle path in order to avoid the traffic jam. One Twingo (got to be the worst name for a car ever) driver came within about 3 inches of hitting me.
We spent Friday and Saturday night camped on the the Zeeburg camp ground just outside the center of Amsterdam. European campgrounds bare few similarities to their American counterparts. This one had bathrooms, showers, a laundry, a bakery, a convenience store, a bicycle rental shop, some cabins and a restaurant. European campgrounds generally charge for your tent, your car, for each member of your party, with additional charges for showers and any other services you might use. There were no campsites sites per se, just several large fields where one can pitch a tent and a few sites for Caravans. The fields end up being wall to wall tents on popular weekends. Friday night we were surrounded by several raucus groups who would have kept us up all night had it not been for the violent thunderstorm that started sometime after midnight. Luckily Saturday night the rains started earlier and so the campground was much quieter.
Saturday we spent most of the day in the Rijksmuseum viewing 17th century dutch masterpieces including many Rembrandts. Some of my favorite works include Rembrandt’s “The Prophetess Anna”, Avercamps “Winter landscape with iceskaters” and Van De Velde De Jonge’s “The Gust”
That evening we did a walking tour of Amsterdam. Sunset isn’t until ten pm this time of year and here in the north, dusk lasts at least an hour after sunset. Amsterdam is a beautiful city of canels and old buildings, which contrast starkly with some of the modern culture. You can indeed see hookers poising nearly nude in the windows and buy dope in the coffeeshops (although I didn’t sample either).
Sunday we spent the day in the Van Gogh Museum. Truly fantastic. I can’t even begin to name favorites because there were so many beautiful works, many of which I had never seen in prints before. We also discovered a place for delightfully cruchy Dutch Patat (French fries) before I caught the train back to Muenster. Rich has fewer work commitments so he will be cycling back to Muenster. I expect him to arrive tomorrow evening unless he gets hopelessly lost.
My entire bicycle ride, door to door, ended up being 305 km (190 miles). Most of that was done on Thursday and Friday with just a few klicks around Amersterdam on Sunday. I haven’t had the chance to ride much this spring (two weeks in Australia without a bike didn’t help) so I was rather stiff on Saturday but by Sunday I was fine. I’ve got to make sure I get in some more riding around Muenster before our two week long tour to France this summer or I’m going to be one hurtin woman.
[ June 15, 2004, 03:13 AM: Message edited by: The Rabbit ]
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Rabbit, When did you start biking? has it always been a love of yours, or was it one of those (somewhat)later in life things?
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You know, I have to say that I think Germans really know how to live. We had an exchange scientist from Hamburg last year and I've been corresponding with her. She tells me about wonderful adventures like yours as well. She participated in a rum regatta about a month ago and the stories she had to tell were amazing!
Bicycling and exploring the countryside, forts and cathedrals sounds just my style. I can imagine that you were a bit sore, though. Thank you for sharing!
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And allow me to extend my compliments on the title. I mean, damn, I thought you were talking about me, but I don't generally get drunk enough to forget a babe like you, and damn if I wasn't all confused and disoriented in an X-Files kinda way there for a minute or two. Damn. Daymn.
But, er, heh, yeah, rock on with the biking and the European countryside and oh discombobulate oh...
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Plus, hey, sorry for being gone all this time, I've been training in Redlands. Much fun. I'm not the biker Rabbit is, I did only eighty miles a day, but still, damn...
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quote:When did you start biking? has it always been a love of yours, or was it one of those (somewhat)later in life things?
Some of both. I first started dreaming about bicycle touring when I was about 9 and two girls who were riding across the US spent the night with our family. I rode a bicycle for transportation through my teens and twenties. Even after I bought a car, I usually rode my bicycle to the University. I didn't start doing long bicycle tours until 6 years ago. From my teens (and maybe younger) until my mid-thirties I was always badly anemic and didn't have the stamina to ride further than about 25 miles in a day. Six and a half years ago I was diagnosed with a maladsorption disease (Gluten Sensitive Enteropathy of Celiac disease) which was responsible for anemia. I started a Gluten free diet which is major pain in the butox but my hematocrit is now in the low to mid 40s. The summer following my diagnosis my husband and I did a bike tour from Bozeman Montana to Waterton Canada, through Glacier National Park and back. Since then I've done 4 multi-week bicycle tours and numerous shorter tours.
I do alot of traveling both for my job and for pleasure and bicycling is definitely my favorite form of traveling. Planes and cars have the advantage of being fast, but I find them to miseries to be endured so that you can get somewhere interesting. When I'm traveling by bike, the traveling is part of the fun. Bicycles move along at the perfect speed so that you can take in the details and still cover ground. You can stop anywhere you want with ease. You never have to search for a parking spot, get caught in a traffic jam, get motion sick, or take the wrong off ramp. You can do it at any age, I've seen small children out with their parents and people in their late 70s out on tours. If you haven't tried it, do.
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Rabbit, that is awesome. Good for you. A friend of mine was recently diagnosed(finally) with celiac disease, or something like it. He was so sick for so long, but just living with it. he is on a no wheat, corn, and about fifty other things diet.
It seems like many of my friends, at some point in their thirties, started doing some major long distance exercising. A few have run marathons, and a few are doing the long bike rides. It is awesome. Many of them did not consider themselves "athletes" before, because they didn't like sports.
Meanwhile, I, the soccer, ice hockey, skiing, tennis, and about ten other things player, am sitting on my behind getting heavier and heavier. I have a beautiful mountain bike, and I LOVE riding it. Why dont I? I don't know, but I just found a nice bike for my daughter, who is ten. She is starting to get a little belly, and I am going to take her on long bike rides. She loves it, and it will help me get motivated.
So, long story short, it is inspiring that you started biking "so late," because it means I can too. Thanks.
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I know what you mean Elizabeth. I was always the last one picked for teams as a kid so I find it funny that my friends now think of me as the athletic one. I'm not fast and I still have no eye hand coordination but my endurance is great.
The only way I am able to get in regular exercise is by bicycling to work. That way I don't have to take extra time for a work out, its just part of my normal day. I have to go to work, so I ride. Once I've ridden to work, I have to go home so no matter how tired I am, I ride.
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Thank you for sharing!
