This is a rambling, ponderings and wondering as I wander post of yesterday.
Yesterday was a train ride, with bike, from Driehuis station to Den Helder. I actually got off at Den Helder zuid (south) because I thought it shaved a few km off my ride and would probably be less hectic than getting through the city. I still managed to take a few wrong left and rights.
So the train. I had read online and watched a video about getting the bike on the train which helped a lot. So what you do is find the door with the bike symbol on it and you get to put the bike there but only after rush hour. There are no smooth ramps though so there is a little lifting. I decided to take my back pack off the bike and wear it to lighten the load. This helped. I only wish I had done it before the Driehuis station as I had to get the bike up stairs to the platform. The Dutch have thought of everything because on the edges of the stairs are grooves for your bike. I didn't take the pack off for that and well, almost fell down the stairs and probably looked ridiculous pushing the bike up the stairs with the packs on the side causing it to be at a very less than upright angle! I got on all the right trains (3) and no one asked to see my tickets (one for me and one for the bike). See you could be sneeky if you wanted! And all train transfers were either the same track or the other side so no pushing the bike up stairs to get to another track. Phew.
I got off at Den Helder zuid at about 11am (first train was 9:45ish). I reattached the back pack to the bike and off I went. It was mostly straight going and I'd check google maps to see if I was going the right way (I wasn't a couple times!). It was a very nice day. So I even took off my jacket and jeans (capri's underneath) and looked the complete biking tourist part. I biked over a short dam, made one car angry (an ambulance :p) and got lost in a tiny town, gave directions to a Dutch lady in car (not so much directions as 'here's google maps, we are the blue dot').
I made it to the campsite at about 1 ish. Not bad for ~25km and my lost times so very much closer to google maps time. It was a very cute campsite and practically empty. I felt really proud of myself. Considering that I had made a wrong left turn to the campsite about 700m down the road and thought the campsite was closed.
I set up camp. Dried some semi damp clothes and lounged in the sun wondering if I could do the 35km right then if I had too. But I kept lounging :)
It was a little later that another solo biker arrived and starting talking to me. Dutch first but then he switched to English for me. He was tired. He had biked ~110km that day (gears!) Because two previous places he had tried to camp were closed. He quickly set up camp. He had much better gear from tent to bike bags and stove. After he shower and ate supper he invited me for coffee and to share his tiny bottle of wine. We talked about his family and where he's biked (he loves biking! And bikes far) and he told me about the Dutch and where we were going tomorrow (same direction Friesland). It was the first time anyone has talked to me and with me here. I enjoyed it a lot. He is 69! But looks like he's got another 69 years to go.
I slept great (or as great as you can in my tiny tent with very minimal gear) and got up at 7 so I could be biking by 8. My biking buddy was already packed up and gone!
Pics will be in the next post.
Leann
No comments:
Post a Comment