In accordance with Murphy’s law, the week continues unseasonably cold and grey. However, the NE tailwind favours a reduced posse of riders as we leave our haven in Den Helder and the many historic ships around us for a 22 km first leg.
View departing Den Helder
The barge will move on to Sint Maartens (well, Maartensvlotburg if you want to be picky) where others will land and join the second half of the fast trip south. The ship-based contingent report a most interesting departure through the waterways of this major port.
Reaching the sandy coast, we sweep around the seashore facing the North Sea. The wide path offers easy riding until it climbs slightly — there’s no such thing as a proper hill in this area — and wanders into the beautiful grassy sand dunes that run the full length of this coast north of Amsterdam. We note that the vegetation is still sparse but slightly greener and softer than that on Texel.
The broad coastal path south
Sharing the path with several other riders, runners, and walkers with dogs, we enjoy our meandering way up rise and down gentle slope, through curves and intersections. At times, the path takes us between parallel sets of dunes a few metres high. The following breeze then channels between the two, seeming to enjoy with us sweeping down the playful course along these little valleys.
Tulip fields near Den Helder
A lookout tower on the right calls for a pause in the headlong progress, which has seen us frequently riding at 25 km per hour and more. Several others are already atop the highest platform looking out over dune and sea. They turn out to be serious birdwatchers, equipped with telephoto ended, binoculars and notebooks. Looking inland, more huge fields of flowering bulbs can be seen.
The otherwise unremarkable coffee stop now boasts an abnormal degree of importance in that a decision was made during lively discussion over hot chocolate (ah, but do you have extra cream or not?) to set up a photograph competition after the tour (coming soon to a web-site near you!)
More Dutch bikes at Schoorl, en route to Alkmaar
Rain has now set in and the temperature according to Garmin has dropped to 6.7 degrees. The early shine has somewhat worn off the tour as some lose feeling in fingers and start to feel ever so slightly weary. However, another lunch stop (with Internet) gets us to Maartensvlotburg where the second contingent joins us. We ride in from the West to find them sheltering like strays under an isolated bus shelter, the barge nowhere in sight having pressed on and deserted them.
Partly restored Reformed Church in Bergen
Thus reunited, back Westwards we go to the coast for another steady run south, this time along a high exposed dune-top path in an area where a gap in the string of dunes has been filled artificially.
Coming inland from this sandy environment we enter leafy sheltered cycle ways and delightful neat villages, sometimes with houses painted white which is not the norm in this part of the Netherlands.
Neat thatched cottages are a common sight
A final diversion due to a closed cycle path adds another few kilometres so that the total distance creeps up.
Predicted: 22 + 22 = 44 kms
Actual: 28 + 28 = 56 kms
Some of the riders who graduated with degrees in science and engineering may at this point be tempted to revert to experimental correction by applying Cook’s Constant: x Rc / Ro
Where Rc = correct result
And Ro = observed result
Thus: By experiment: 22 + 22 = 56
Applying Cook’s const. x 44 / 56
Therefore 22 + 22 = 44 QED
We still rode 56 kms. Map link HERE>.
Elodie Spring 17 