Skip to main content

Stage 17 - The Hague to Breda via (Rotterdam) 62km (30-Jun-2019)


Delft was always on our list of places to visit in The Netherlands and yesterday we did just that on our day off the tour. Also took the opportunity to further explore The Hague on a seriously hot day. Ursi even managed to climb the 300 plus steps up the very narrow staircase to the top of the tower in Delft. Not for me.








Our host, Abhi, had organised a home delivered Indian meal in the evening which went down a treat. Nice change from what we have normally eaten on the tour.
Early start today; after breakie, we left around 8.45am to catch a train to Rotterdam to reduce the riding distance and time to Breda. It was always in the plan to do that. Getting bikes loaded with panniers on the train is not as easy as it sounds when the platform is quite a bit lower than the train doors. Anyway, we managed to get them up and there was a first experience, where the ticket price for the bikes were more expensive than the passengers. The bikes cost Euro 6.90 each (that is the cost, matter where you travel to in The Netherlands). Our tickets to Rotterdam cost Euros 5.10 each.  
As always it was good to be back in the saddle on an agreeable day, not so hot. Rotterdam Central Station and surrounding areas were fairly deserted which made getting out of Rotterdam fairly easy.
Today's ride, as always on good bike paths, was uneventful, mostly through suburbia, along main roads and through some heavy industrial areas - nothing too exciting to look at or photograph. As my mate, Ellwood would say, today was all about riding. For what it's worth here are a few photos taken along the way.




The approach into Breda was nothing special, sums up the day's ride. Nearer to our Airbnb, bumped into a Kiwi, didn't get to talk to home for too long but it's always nice to meet neighbours. After checking in and a quick shower, made our way into Breda; appeared the whole town was either shopping or having refreshments in the town square. I don't know but somehow the people here appear to be different from the people in other parts of Netherlands. That's not being critical, just an observation.




Dinner was at a Japanese restaurant, (with this bike hanging off the wall) pork belly something or another for Ursi and a vege noodle for me. The tucker wasn't bad, all the same, can't wait to get back to Sydney to taste the real thing.





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stage 22 - Schengen to Wasserbillig via Trier 70km (24-Jul-2019)

All good things come to an end (more about that later). Today's stage along the River Moselle was a late addition into our itinerary; more opportunistic than anything else. We decided to spend a couple of days in Luxembourg, 1 day visiting Luxembourg city, (which is one big construction site at the moment) which we did yesterday and 1 day to ride somewhere, which is what we did today on a seriously hot day with the temperatures hitting 38deg. Early start to catch the 9.05am bus to Schengen, where the treaty to open up the European borders was signed, yes, local buses to take bikes. Un loaded our bikes on arrival at Schengen and made our way a few 100 meters to the magnificent bike path on the Luxembourg bank of River Moselle; the other bank is Germany, to the town of Trier (Karl Marx's birthplace) in Germany. Must admit the river appeared a tad untidy but the landscape of vineyards were breath taking. Stopped a few time to take some photos of birdlife, towns an...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stage 6 - Beechworth to Bright 72km (18- Mar-2021)

Another fine day’s start for the final stage of our tour. Warm but cloudy as we made our way out of Beechworth, stopping to take one final photo of the Bakery. Bakeries play a big role in the community in places like Beechworth as it has in our lives on this tour.  The cloud cover was compounded by some back burning as we traced back on the trail that brought us into Beechworth as there is only one way in and one way out. Much to our delight the tracing back was a 15.5km downhill ride until we arrived at Everton where we picked up the trail that was to bring us into Bright. It’s all part of the Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail.  Unlike yesterday, today’s trail had interesting attractions in addition to the tradtional cows, bulls etc on either side of it as captured in the photos below. Coming into Myrtleford, there were a couple of big units of trees as an attraction; we rested our bikes against them to give a perspective of size. The welcome to Myrtleford sign and these two...
Post a Comment
Read more

Beechworth Rest Day (17-Mar-2021)

Last night, we stayed in for dinner comprising of a meat pie from the famous Beechworth Bakery and 3 different fresh salads bought from a local store and it was early to bed. After a good nights sleep, what was meant to be a rest day ended up us going for a 8.5km walk around the Beechworth Gorge on another beautiful day. Well worth it. The end of the walk led us straight to the bakery for a morning cappuccino/chai latte including the famous Beesting (pastry) shared of course.  The rest of the day was spent on much needed relaxation and a little bit of tinkering by me on the bikes in readiness for tomorrow’s last stage to Bright.
Post a Comment
Read more