Cycle: 31.61km//1hr40min//18.82km/hr
Friday August 30
It is good to travel with someone who loves to read and research and can do it all very quickly!
Somewhere along the way Madalene read about a famous cheese market that occurs in Alkameer every Friday. Like many of the places we've visited, the question isn't so much why go, but rather, why not go? And so off we went.
This market was big, and there was an old weigh house complete with massive scales for weighing rolls of Gouda. Next, a fenced off area where the cheese runners would demonstrate the traditional way of carrying, weighing, running, and shipping cheese. Strangely, it was all being videod (included aerially from a helicopter), and projected onto a TV screen in the city square. Cheese is a big deal, and there were a lot of spectators.
We walked around the many vendors, sampling green, red, regular, and spiced gouda. We even found some 30+ year old Gouda. Dry, crumbly, rich, and delicious Gouda.
Aparently what makes the cheese from North Holland so good is the land where the cows graze is saline, and this aparts flavour to the milk and the cheese. It definitely taste different, and amazing.
In Alkmaar we also found a bike shop where Madalene finally bought a new rear tire for Poppet. That girl has been riding with a big bulge in her tire for >1000km... a situation made worse by the flat a couple days ago. I would ride behind her for hours watching and hearing her tire go wobble and thump on each revolution. Maddening.
On the way back to camp we fulfilled one of our "must see" Holland items, and visited the Schermerhorn Windmill Museum. A 17th century windmill in working condition. The Museummolen is one of the eleven windmills left from the former windmill complex of the Schermer polder (wind mills now replaced by a pumping station). The windmill was all wheels and screws (made of thick wood), thatched roof, and a sweey thick smoky smell. We were in the very top of the windmill when the wind picked up. The windmill sped up, the noises amplified, the entire building creaked, shifted, and strained. We felt like we were going to go fly away in this thing.
In North Holland we also found some roadies! On top of that, a large number of bikes is set up with aerobars/tribars, ready for the ever present headwind. We also finally figured out the "numbered" bike routes system (and frequent maps) and started enjoying care-free cycling from one number to the next.
 |
| Schermerhorn at sunrise. |
 |
| Rolls of Gouda after being weighed. |
 |
| Cheese cheese cheese. |
 |
| North Holland Gouda is so tasty because these are happy cows munching on green green grass grown in saline water. |
 |
| Cheese Runners. |
 |
| Approaching the Schermerhorn Windmill Museum |
