Cycle: 28km//1hr48min//15.57km/hr
Sunday August 25
It is always a bit of a dilemma on what to do when you arrive in a city and stay overnight. You very much want to go sightseeing, but there is always a long list of more basic things that need to be done. First of all, we had a bed to sleep in, so naturally we indulged and got up a bit later than normal. The Stone Hotel was small, but packed in a lot of people. Consequently, making breakfast was a challenge as we had to play twister around other people to get to the counter space. This hostel also had the narrowest, steepest, smallest, most spider-webby staircases imaginable. I couldn't help but look for the escape routes.
Our to do list was pretty big:
1-find bike route maps and camping maps.. in english
2-find a pot to replace the one that the cobblestones ate through
3-research a tents available to replace the Hubba Hubba.
Utrecht on a Sunday morning was wonderful to cycle around. Completely different from Saturday afternoon, when we had to squeeze though the crowds for many blocks to get out of the train/downtown area and to the hotel. It just so happens that our arrival in Utrecht coincided with a musical festival AND a mussel festival. We happened upon a live outdoor stage, found chairs on a open patio, and enjoyed delicious dark beers (Trappist Westmalle Dubbel) while soaking up the energy of this lively, pretty city. In Utrecht's tourist information office we found a little handbook on small natural campsites in Holland, guaranteeing few people, natural surroundings, and eco friendly practices. Jenn speaks Dutch conversational, but never learned to read or write, so it was an amusing challenge to pick apart the directions to these little places (we didn't realize how lucky we were to find this book until later).
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| The little book that would lead us to all the best small natural campsites. |
Stone Hotel agreed to hold our panniers for the day, and when we returned they were exactly where we left them... (so much for the storage locker).. a.very antisocial piece of luggage. We set off for the Fort Spion natural campsite, directions courtesy of our little book. The bike paths in Holland are amazingly beautiful and endless. They have paths on every road, but they also have a path system that will take you to your destination on more scenic routes. At Fort Spion, we found a little lane and a typical Dutch home. Chickens in the yard (silkies too!), sheep a little further along, gardens....We road in and began going through the large gates before a small bridge when we heard a women calling out to us. Eyes in the back of their heads I tell you! Tina greeted us and started to explain the layout in English, I confessed that I knew a little dutch and off she went talking in Dutch a mile a minute....I managed to extract the location for the tents, showers, toilet....everything else was superfluous.
