Onderdijk to Amstelveen / Amsterdam

June 21 - Day 16

Distance 78.3

Total distance on the trip 969.84 km

Moving time 4:34:00

                                  

Todays elevation 38m                                  

Total elevation 1368

Weather : 13-19 C Sunny, The wind started as a 17km/h SSW, but then turned to be a 24km/h westerly about midday.  We had a tail wind for about 10kms at the end.

We managed to get going by 8:34 on this morning, we had a birthday function that evening in Amsterdam for about 6pm, so we needed to get back, unpack, freshen up and get out of the hotel and with about 80kms to ride, we did not have much time for looking around, although we did stop at a few interesting places. Again the wind was an issue for us, and we did take a few wrong turns.

We again passed some beautiful homes in the country side, and the compuslory windmill or two. We headed inland for a bit, just to reduce the distance we needed to ride. 

There were some quite small villages we passed along the way, some with newer architecture than others, we enjoyed the passing breezes of the monster tractors carting the hay to wherever they were going. The church in the photo above had been modified into a house.

Along the Markermeer Sea wall we came across this monument on top. At this point 5 November in 1675, this wall was breached by the sea and flooded the lowlands lying on the other side. It was the last time it happened, as the Dutch got super serious about walls and dijks and keeping the sea out of their country. (Thankful for google translate)
The old Dutch people called the floods the "water wolf" who was always waiting to get them by finding weakness in the walls and breaking it down. 

We rode into Edam - such a pretty canal town, we did not have much time to look around, but there were many buses discharging their tourists while we were there, we knew we were missing something, but did not have the luxury of time to find out. (I know there is cheese here).  We shall return as it is not far from Amsterdam. The statue on the right is the Holocaust memorial in Edam. 

 We rode along a long canal to head into the northern part of Amsterdam. The wind at this point was quite strong in our faces. We tailed these two cyclists on e-bikes for a bit to give us pace line and drafting from the wind, but then, they were going so slow we needed to pass them. 

Some of the sights as we approached Amsterdam, the cows were very close to town. The infamous dutch house boats that were brought into existence after WW2 to alleviate the housing shortage. 

Some more sight of some of the villages we rode through. Every town in the Netherlands has its own charm.

As we got closer to Amsterdam proper, we had to catch a free ferry across  the main Canal that splits defines Amsterdam the Het Ij. We passed this cycling keg on wheels where the drinkers pedal while travelling around the city. The vehicle took up much of the cycle path and travelled quite slow. Not sure if they needed a designated steerer. 

And the last unpack of the bikes this trip. Staying in Amstelveen and the new Ammonite Hotel. Quite the hotel in comparison to the IBIS Budget we had stayed in just down the road. We still prefer the country B&B's. But we are in the big smoke now. 

We managed to check in, get changed and get to our daughters birthday event all on time. A great day of riding.