Just an easy run today to try to get my legs going, as I haven’t done very much cycling this year. We travelled overnight on the ferry from Newcastle and then cycled to Volendam. Very easy cycling day – flat, the usual wonderful Netherlands cycle paths and only a small part of the day battling the wind.  It took us rather more than 2hrs 16mins: Google never seem to allow for route finding, waiting at bridges and level crossings and general faffing time.

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I could go on and on yet again about this cycle-friendly country.  Some extremely helpful workmen at a large building site on the docks pointed out the correct detour cycle paths and a random person in a private house tapped on a window and pointed out the narrow side path leading out of an apparent dead end lane that had us stumped for a couple of minutes. At the end of the day, the hotel has (of course!) a cycle parking area with security gates.

Our plan is to head north tomorrow and eventually to cross the Afsluitdijk (Closure Dike – labelled ‘E22’ on the map) which shuts the IJsselmeer off from the sea, and has turned it into a freshwater lake. It’s 32km long with a major road and a cycle path, and there is apparently a restaurant around the halfway point. How I feel about the crossing will be entirely down to the wind, I think.

Beyond that, we intend to head through the north of Germany towards Denmark and see how far we get. But we have nothing booked until the ferry home, so plans may change without notice.

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