Park & Ride, Part 1: The Great Waal

I've been getting into a new mode of touring, partly due to lockdown rules. Overnight stays with Vrienden op de Fiets are out. So instead of overnighting, I simply leave my bike at a train station at the endpoint of the day's tour. Then return another day to continue the tour. Parking is always available at stations, usually secure, often sheltered from the rain. I tried this approach along the North Sea coast last summer with great success, from Amsterdam going straight west to Zandvoort beach, then heading north in stages: Beverwijk, Castricum, Heiloo, Alkmaar, each station an easy 5-10km ride to a fabulous beach. Then I rode back along an alternate route with different beaches. 

This time I tried the park & tour method in central Netherlands, and again it worked brilliantly.

Bike-ulele tour, part 5

Tilburg wheels

I had been concerned that the dog odor would ruin my breakfast here in Tilburg, but it seemed to subside as we had our boiled egg, cold cuts, cheese, jam and bread. Inneke joined us. She told us that we were her very first vrienden op de fiets. I was surprised to learn that the homes of the cycling friends were not rated or inspected. Inneke's place was ok but not up to the cleanliness standards of most other vrienden. I liked Inneke, an attractive woman with short gray hair. She is some sort of new age consultant and also caregiver for old folks. She's into saunas and we traded our favorites.

Brabantse Land-route - Day 1

Inner Rotterdam

The weather is supposed to be nice in the next few days, so I decided to go ahead with my plans for a Noord Brabant tour. (I was just reading in the newspaper that this August has been one of the worst in the past century, weather-wise, with an enormous amount of rain.) But today, Labor Day, it's overcast, and people on the train platforms are wearing jackets and sweaters. There is an autumnal feeling about the day. The modern Sprinter - more like a metro car than a train - glides south along Holland's industrial corridor - Haarlem, Leiden, Den Haag - between the factories revealing the usual flat fields full of cows and canals with wooden bridges.