What an interesting day! I was the ‘sweeper’ (the rear guard), and what a workout! You’re not supposed to leave anyone behind, but people want to stop for various reasons, to pee, to take off their jacket, to put on their jacket and then you have to go three times as fast to catch up. Plus we had a head wind all day, about 25 km/hr. Our guide was getting quite frustrated today b/c there was a lot of complaining and whining. At one point we (myself and two ladies who were exhausted) were at least a km behind the main group. I of course couldn’t leave them. So, finally Els, our guide put the slow ones near the front, right behind her. We had to make a 4 o’clock ferry. We used the ferry 3 times today. The ferry boat is equipped with a little ramp to cycle the bikes up and down. Coming off one ferry, we saw two women who must have been at least 70. Everyone cycles here.
Once again we cycled through pristine countryside and farms. The Dutch are very clean and tidy people; their lawns look like they’ve been manicured with scissors. The thatched roofs look sculpted and the farms are immaculate.
There are lots of cows, sheep and horses. Let me describe two different kinds of cows I saw. One cow has the rear end of a pig, the head of a cow, the shoulders of a bull and an elongated body. It must be bred for meat, but it is the oddest looking thing. Yesterday there was a cow that was chocolate brown front and back with a two-foot white band around the middle. But at least it looked like a cow.
I don’t think there is any low fat anything here in the Netherlands. The milk and yoghurt is all very creamy. They love to use butter for all their cooking. Delicious! And the breads are yummy. Fortunately we’re doing a lot of cycling. Today we cycled only 35 km but tomorrow the plan is to cycle 55, then the barge will sail to Utrecht, after that there is only one day to get to Amsterdam. We can’t believe we’ve already been away for one week.
Today was the first evening that we had nice weather. We had dessert up on the deck and everyone’s spirits improved considerably. We saw a ‘boat’ coming down the canal; it was made out of a wood pallet anchored onto 3 surf boards with a small 9hp motor. There was a leather couch, plants and some kind of locker. He came to the edge, picked up some friends, a pizza and took off again! Apparently this is quite common here.
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