Day 2 : Scheveningen to Lekkerkerk.

June 5 2018
Strava Link

Distance : 71.9 kms   

Moving time 4:39:52 
Average Speed : 15.4 km/h

Elevation: 158m
Temperature : 20C

Our end goal for the first part of the entire trip was to was to head to Maastricht 216 kms away from Sheveningen, so we looked at a map and considered places to stay that were at about 60-70 km intervals along the way. We identified Dortrecht as a place to visit, but because it was a small city and may not have lock up storage for the bikes, we chose to head for a smaller town called Lekkerkerk, and we would explore Dortrecht a little bit before heading there.

We enjoyed the Badhotel’s breakfast, managing to cheese load very well for the day. We packed up the bikes and headed up to the Sheveningen beach featured in the Mestag Panorama to see what the fuss was about. Although is quite different to when it was painted in 1881, it is still a very pretty 11 kms of coastline on the North Sea. We checked out the lighthouses, the numerous cute statues by Max Otterness, (we recognised his work from the Subway station in New York), the restaurants on the beach and the view. It would have been lovely on a clear and fine day and it was very easy to see the appeal of the coast line as a hot tourist destination in the summer months, this day however was very cool and quite windy to be outside. 

We headed back into The Hague and on the way we passed the miniature Netherlands museum Madurodam, we stopped to look at, but did not go inside as we were conscious of time and anyway, they did not accept the NL Museumkaat (which is well worth getting). we rode onto the World Forum which Wayne had an interest in which is part of the complex housing the international criminal court. 

We managed to find our way out of The Hague after few dodgy signs and headed to Delft. This is such a pretty town, a much smaller version of Amsterdam. It was still cold so we found a cafe to have some hot chocolate and Stroopwaffles, which were both delicious and warm. We found the Oude Kerk and Nieuw Kerk and paid our 5euro to go inside these beautiful churches which were quite different to each other.

In the Oude Kerk we learned about how the Dutch were pirates and explorers - particularly a man called Piet Hein and how he secured the Silver fleet from the Spanish to line the already thick Dutch coffers. The spoils managed to pay for the army for 8 months.

The Nieuw Kerk had a huge tomb and allegorical monument commemorating William the Silent (1645) who was buried here, and now the entire Royal family are buried at this church. Many other rich people are also buried under floors of the church. They paid huge amounts of money to be buried close to the King. The poor people are buried outside of the building, the rich inside. Those who were buried inside decomposed and would make the church stink - hence the term ‘stinking rich’.

We left Delft but not before checking out its own Stonehenge which was funny in it’s location and purpose (of which we had no idea about either).

We moved onto Rotterdam for a quick visit. The scenery on the way was so very pretty with a number of canals and parks to ride through. 

We spent about an hour riding around the Port area of Rotterdam. The sun had finally come out and it was warm enough to enjoy the outdoors. We rode across the famous Swan Bridge - or Erasmus Bridge on our way to Lekkerkerk.

To get to Lekkerkerk we needed to catch a ferry across the intersection of two rivers, the locals were very helpful in making sure we got on the right ferry. Arriving on the other side of the Lek river we made our way to the Hotel in the town riding along the river.

Just as we were entering the town, Wayne yelled at me to stop. The frame on his bike had snapped, which was more than a slight problem. The panniers were loaded onto my bike and I headed to the hotel to check in. Wayne walked his wounded bike to a central location where I met him and took him to the hotel. It was after 6pm, so nothing was open to start problem solving. We had dinner and considered our options for the tour … buy a new bike, buy a second hand bike, get a new frame, stop the tour & go home, rent a bike … we went to bed not knowing what was going to happen the next day.