Moddergat to Arum

June 19 - Day 14

Distance 66.65 kms

Total distance on the trip 819.44km

Moving time 3:58 hours

                                  

Todays elevation 90m                                  

Total elevation 1373

Weather - 16 -> 26 degrees -Winds WSW at about 17km/h, another headwind day. The wind seems to know the way we are heading.

We started the day with another amazing breakfast of fresh croissants & bread, chocolate sprinkles, cheese and fresh fruit and yoghurt. These B&B establishments in the country really know how to load a cyclist up for the day. We managed to eat all the food, have a chat with the other guests who wanted to know why we came all the way from Australia to visit the 'mudhole' on our bikes, pack up and still get on the bikes before 8:45am. 

The weather was not warm, but it was not as cold as previous days, it was still a multilayered day for me at the beginning.

We rode west out of the village, along the sea levy, back past the monuments we saw yesterday, stopping to take better photos of them. 

We quickly came to another town down the road Wierum 5kms down the road, with a church called St Mary's, on the main road and outside the church on the footpath is a statue of a wjirmdolster , a pierscher. It recalls the period of sea fishing, in which women from the village searched for sea piers on the mudflats for fishing. This village also suffered badly in the great storm of 1883 - losing 12 of the 17 ships that were out. The village currently has a population of 325. 

The church was built in 1200 and used to be in the centre of town, but the northern part of town has since been washed away, and it is now on the edge. The weather vane on the church is of a fishing boat. 

The village of Wierum from the sea wall. Photo from Wikipedia.

We continued to ride along the sea wall looking out at the endless mud, the large photo on the left shows a ferry terminal (Wagenborg Passagiersdiensten B.V.) 

 in the distance where you can catch a ferry terminal to the outlying islands of Ameland or Schiermonnikoog. The Frisian Islands are next on our list to explore in the Netherlands. 

As we continued on our way this giant statue appeared in our view. it is called "Waiting for high tide"  by Jan Ketelaar.  The plan is for two giant statues of women  to be standing next to each other looking out over the North Sea - one buxom and the other slim. The slim one is not yet completed - she is to be installed September 16 2019. 

For a bit of fun, someone created a very small woman statue to stand next to the large one, in the place where the slim woman is to stand. It makes for a great contrast. (see bottom left photo).

I love her. 

We continued to follow the sea wall and had to ride through many sheep paddocks, this was quite pleasant, with the sheep mostly watching us go on our way. We passed some farmers who opened gates for us, or waved at us as we rode through their land on the cycle path. 

We had planned to continue along the coastline, but the rain clouds were becoming onmious in the distance and there were not many towns along the west coast for quite a way. So we had to make a decision to get to the nearest town as it started sprinkling, 

 We initially took shelter under church verandah at Nij Altbenae to wait out a downpour, (sanctuary!). The rain ceased for a bit and we though we might head into the next biggest town to find a cafe to sit out the oncoming downpour. We headed into Sint Annaparochie, but could not easily find a suitable cafe, so we found shelter at a sports ground under an entrance canopy. We stopped there for about 90 minutes. The local school even cancelled their PE lessons as it was so heavy and constant. When the rain stopped, it dod not rain again for the rest of the day and actually became really warm.

On our way again along the small river, heading toward the  major dyke that keeps the Netherlands dry. We came across this amazing round church in Berltzsum. Koepelkerk - it is a relative new comer, having only been built in 1777-79.

Water continues to be everywhere.

We did have to ride along some track on this route, however it was more than made up for by the bridges that have been constructed for cyclists and pedestrians. 

We arrived in a small village called Arum, and decided to stay here, I booked a room for the night at the only hotel in town, as it was still too early to check in (4pm check in). We bought some ready made salads from the small supermarket and ate our lunch in the grounds of the church in the sun.  

We stayed in a lovely 'pension' called  "Herberg de Gekroonde Leeuw" (The Crowned Lion Inn) , built in 1876, it was charming. It is also the happening place for the local community with a couple of ladies turning up to play billiards in the afternoon. Our bikes got to stay in the party room downstairs while we enjoyed a cosy warm attic room. We enjoyed a fabulous home cooked dinner sitting outside in the warm sunshine, topped off with some homemade apple pie. We also enjoyed watching the very large tractors go past on their errands.