Guidebook research II: Roermond -> Thorn

On the train to Roermond, in central Limburg. The corridor to the north of Maastricht looks mainly agricultural-suburban-industrial, highways and power lines. A warm, almost summery day so a good day for a ride to Thorn.

Guidebook research: Noord-Brabant (west)

Miniature carnival ride at Markiezenhof palace, Bergen op Zoom. 

Train to Bergen op Zoom. It is practically empty. How can they make any money on it? Pulling into Rosendaal. The day is gorgeous.

This is the beginning of my research for a guidebook on the Netherlands. I've got my bike along, though I won't be riding all the time. I'll use the bike to a) get to places that trains don't go, and b) to try out promising fietstochts (cycle tours) in the vicinity of towns.

Almere & the Spoonbill Reserve

1 → 2
Almere, Dutch planned community par excellence. The usual shopping plaza outside station. I ride through parks, a skateboard park, suburban blocks. Almere is a workaday place. Many blacks and Asians, not unlike De Bijlmer. It's a mere half hour by train to Amsterdam, closer than my childhood neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, is to Manhattan.

Amsterdam North via the Orange Sluice

I am working on a new northerly route, one which should surely earn a place in my series of local cycling circuits. It centers around my fascination with the Oranje Sluis, an almost unknown link between Oost (East) and Noord (North), yet a convenient one, as it feeds right into Schellingwoude, the picturesque old fishing village at the southeast corner of Noord. I figured out how to approach it from the south.

Nescio bridge