The day started off with a beautiful view again. I would have missed it if I’d got up at the right time for breakfast, but as I got the time wrong I was up an hour early !
Breakfast was your typical greasy spoon or continental, as I paid for the full buffet experience I had both !
Once off the ferry, there were the joys of Brexit to contend with. What would have been a quick glance at passport and wave through became a half hour queue. Guess a small price to pay for taking back control (of what ?)
The North Sea route was fairly well signposted, taking riders through dunes and National parks. It wasn’t as flat as advertised, especially through the dunes. Once in towns the signposting seemed to disappear, but found my way ok.
A few hours of riding and I was getting hungry and wishing l has gone into Rotterdam to buy some snacks. 4 hours after starting I finally found lunch. A delicious felafel salad, what could’ve better than lunch in the sun ?
The afternoon unfortunately didn’t live up to the morning’s promise . First of all the gentle breeze had developed into something rather stronger. Despite the fact the prevailing wind should be from the South, today it wasn’t – nor does it look like it will be all week ! it was like riding constantly up hill, but worse I noticed one of my panniers was hanging off. One of the nuts that hold the supporting rail had fallen out and the bag was hanging on the two remaining screws. Thank god for zip ties, by pushing one through the holes and attaching another to it on the inside , I managed to re secure the rail. It will have to do until I can get to a bike shop
The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, stopping for a Fanta and some Oreo cookies from a Petrol station, gave me an extra burst of energy to get to my Air BnB in IJmuiden. Hopefully no drama’s tomorrow .
Oh I forgot the German who had lost his wife. The most I could work out was he’d lost her and she had a green jacket. He seemed quite upset, but as my German doesn’t reach much beyond ordering a beer, I decided there was little I could do to help. So gave him a cheery wave and some words of reassurance (which he couldn’t understand) and off I went.
Steady Pedals 