Day 1, Amsterdam to Scheveningen June 4 2018

June 4 2018
Strava Link

Distance : 75kms   

Moving time 4:36:57 
Average Speed : 16.3 km/h

Elevation: 88m
Temperature : 18C

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We set off about 8:15 after a short breakfast in our room and after packing everything we needed into our panniers.

We headed out toward Den Hague, planning to drop into Leiden, a small town which had been recommended to us by a Dutch national, so it must be good..

It did not take long for us to be out of the Amsterdam city limits and into farmland and to come across our first windmill in the wild, which was quite exciting. As we were taking photos a group of older cyclists stopped to chat with us about where we had come from and what our plans were. They were all on e bikes due to the wind, they said,

Leiden is 43.5kms from Amsterdam and we stopped there for a break and to have a look at some of the sights. Leiden is home to the Netherlands’ oldest university and the birthplace of Rembrandt. We tried to find the Americans Pilgrims museum, which we did find, but it was closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Leiden is where the English Pilgrims prepared for and left for the US on the Mayflower in those early days of migration. We had morning tea near the historic windmill (Molenmuseum de Valk) over looking the river / canal. We then ventured into town to the tourist place to find a bathroom and we discovered the town has a historic mound (Burcht Van Leiden) and lookout to explore so we went there to have a look. It was very interesting and worthy of climbing the many steps, to our amusement, some some Dutch school students were on a field trip and decided "they don't do steps". "We are Dutch, we don't do elevation" was our in house joke for the rest of the trip.

Following this, we rode around the town for a bit and found a nice park to have a rest (In my case a sleep, jetlag still having an effect on my fatigue levels).

We set off after some lunch and continued toward the Hague, cycling through some lovely forests and trying to ensure we didn’t miss any signs to keep us on the right path.

We arrived in the Hague and headed for the Mesdag Panorama Art Gallery, which was an unexpected surprise and Wayne's choice of things to do in the Hague. At the front of the building is normal art gallery, but then you go through a corridor and up some stairs and the Panorama is just there and jaw dropping. It was incredible and well worth visiting.

After this we needed to find some accommodation, we rode around the city for a bit, but we could not find accommodation that could also provide a secure lock up for our bikes, so we found somewhere to have dinner that had wifi and decided to head out to Scheveningen about 3kms away. This is a tourist spot with 11kms of beach, so had a good selection of accommodation. We stayed at the Badhotel, which had a pretty good deal including a yummy breakfast and secure lockup for the bikes.

Seeing we already had eaten earlier, it was washing the clothes and head to bed sort of night.

Fun fact: Anecdotal evidence exists of the name Scheveningen being used as a shibboleth during World War II to identify German spies: they would pronounce the initial "Sch" differently from Dutch native speakers. (McNamara, Tim (2005). "21st century shibboleth: language tests, identity and intergroup conflict". Language Policy. Springer Netherlands. 2005 (4): 351–370).