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A One Week Bike Trip in Holland

Day 4 - Through Den Haag to Gouda

The weather looked OK going to bed, but the wind started blowing in the night. I woke up several times in the night thinking tomorrow may not be good. When I woke in the morning it was really ugly - rainy and dark. We packed up and went down to the typical breakfast - juice, coffee, bread, jelly, hard-boiled egg, all of which was good, and adequate. We started out about 9 AM, after the proprietors retrieved our bikes from their backyard, where there had graciously stored them for the night for us. The weather was a little better - the rain had stopped, but there was wind (not bad) out of the South, the direction we were headed.

(90K) 425 x 276

Through the dunes

We picked up the bike trail at the edge of town (which was really a small sea-side resort community, like many places on the East Coast of the US) and headed back into the dunes. The bike path was paved, with small ups and downs as wound though the grass and sand dunes. The sea was now off to out right somewhere, but we were not close enough to see it.

After a long ride through the dunes we arrived in Den Haag, found the VVV and got some more maps(f3.50 and f7.50) for the next part of our journey. (The 1:50,000 scale maps really had a lot of detail, showing all bike paths and streets.) We rode to the Palace of Justice, arriving at 11 AM, just as they were starting their first tour. We quickly stashed our bikes by the guard 's post at the gate, paid the fee (f10.00) and took the tour (conducted in English) though the Palace of the International Courts of Justice. After the tour, well worth the cost, we rode over to the "old area" near the Parliament buildings and bought our lunch at the place we came to know and love, McDonalds (f15.00).

We then used our newly acquired maps to pick up E30 to Delft. We stopped at the train station to use the toilet (f0.75) and bought a couple bottles of water (f6.00). In retrospect, we should have spent more time sightseeing in Delft, but after seeing the outside of one old church, we pressed on, occasionally stopping to adjust the bungee cords securing the museum posters to our panniers. We left Delft about 3 PM, still needing to check our maps frequently. Our route out of Delft took along excellent bike paths to Pijnacker to Zoetermeer, then along A12 (akin to a freeway) to Gouda.

We arrived in Gouda about 5:30 PM and found the VVV, but it had closed at 5 PM. There was a dialer outside though to a Bed and Breakfast. The man on the other end of the phone had no rooms, but did take the time to contact other places and directed us to a place that had a room for the night. It was only a few minutes away, and was very nice (up narrow stairs again), price f37 per person per night. After hauling our panniers up to the room, we put on our rain gear (it started to rain soon after we arrived at our residence for the night), found the local McDonalds for dinner (about f25.00), then wandered the town square where circus had set up. Then it was back to our room for a little TV and sleep, around 10:30.

Day 3 - On the road to (Den Haag maybe?)

Day 5 - From Gouda to Utrecht

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Last updated 1 May, 2002