15-23 deg C, drizzly in the morning, cool during the ride, downpour just after we arrived
Moving time: 4h04m; elapsed time: 5h37m
Total ride G: 2,362km
Total ride W: 2,294km
Walk G: 4km; total: 579km
Walk W: 2km; total: 485km
We rode away just after 9am in light drizzle that became a bit heavier but not enough for us to stop and don raincoats. We were soon on the designated route and heading over a bridge for trains, bicycles and pedestrians, awesome. The trains were separated from us by a large barrier. We missed a turn off the bridge by 20m because it was a staircase with a tyre trackway down the side for the bike wheels to sit in. The cycling infrastructure in Holland is even better than it was when we were here last in 2012, and we thought then that it could not possibly get any better. The only way it could improve anymore would be to ban cars altogether and just have the roads for bikes. That ain’t going to happen.
We stopped for mornos at Opheusden near a war memorial in a park. We were befriended by a lady on a bike collecting bottles and cans to cash in. She asked where we are from and we struck up a conversation about cycling. She was amazed that we had cycled all the way from Budapest. She seemed like a nice person, perhaps down on her luck for a bit. We hope she does really well out of the collecting.
Onwards we travelled.
We caught a ferry across the river from Eck en Wiel to Amerongen so decided to stop for lunch near the castle on the other side. From looking at Google Maps it was probably worth a wander, but we would have had to leave the fully loaded bikes outside. Also the clouds were looking very ominous and we still had about 35km to go. So back on the bikes and off we went.
A good decision as it turned out because not long after settling into our hotel room the sky opened up with a pretty decent downpour. We could feel a little Indian coming on, just to warm us up from the inside. It was excellent.
Morning tea stop at Opheusden
On the ferry from Eck en Wiel to Amerongen
Castle Amerongen
Lunch stop
Some of the paths we rode today
When you think that the path couldn’t get any wider or smoother, it does.
Ride scenery
Konik. a Dutch native/wild horses, we think
Neat little garden
A wagon next to the bike path
A modern church, still the house of The Lord but a little less spectacular than the old ones.
Greg does like his flowers - typical Dutch home
Where the bikes will sleep for the next two nights, first 24 hours are free, not sure how much after that! (€1.50 for 2 bikes, not bad) We were given a tag with a bar code on it, and the same code was attached to the bike. If you can’t prove the bike is yours, you can’t leave with it. Excellent system.
Leonardo Hotel Utrecht Centre and room #202
2nd floor is below the balcony floor level and our 3 windows have the letters t, e, and l on them
The view from our windows
Ride route and stats
Just as we were about to leave for dinner, the sky opened!
Indian for dinner
Butter chicken for W and a Fish Meal for G
These looked like kapenta/white bait
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