Medemblik to Den Helder: 4 June 12

The weather did NOT clear overnight and we were greeted by light but steady rain as we began our day over breakfast. The Germans decided to brave the weather with the Dutch ladies. The full ride was almost 60 km with additional for getting lost and exploring. Amy, I and the Aussie couple stayed put on the boat. The plan was to get off at one of the locks and ride from there, but when we arrived at the designated spot, the rain was still coming down and it was cold, so all but I continued on with the boat. My ride was, shall we say, pastoral. Lots of open fields, a few with remnants of tulips as the season was fairly late this year. But, there was little in the way of interesting architecture, livestock, etc. and the path spent a lot of time either on roads or paralleling a main highway. One interesting part of the trip was catching a little ferry across a canal for 0.50 euros. That whole experience is sort of surreal. The sign for the bike path points straight ahead, but the road simply ends in the water. You look across and see a boat which comes over, picks you up and then deposits you on the other side. The rain was gradually diminishing and stopped altogether a few minutes after I reached Den Helder, our day's destination. As I was wet and it was still cold, I went for a spin around the area to stay warm until the boat arrived. Apparently, almost all of the original buildings were destroyed by the Germans during WW2 so that they would have a more commanding view of the strategic ocean point. The resulting rebuild didn't produce much in the way of interesting stuff. The gray, dreary day didn't do much to help either. Dinner was cold ham, onion and tomato quiche, boiled potatoes, with spicy lamb stew and raspberry compote with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream for dessert. Total distance 25 + 11 km.