Day 8

Today we start sailing at breakfast on route to a spot where we can unload the bikes and begin our journey into the wind. My avian companion said hello just as we were leaving.

Great Crested Grebe

  We are invited to be on the bridge with captain Jan as he navigates these waters with 50+ years of experience.

  The river traffic is intense as this is a major shipping route from Antwerp and Rotterdam to the rest of the world.

View of river traffic from our boat.

Hope this window was closed.

  We carefully unload the bikes over the side of the boat and set up for our ride.  Nobody realized the relentless wind that was (surprisingly!!) coming straight at us as a head wind no matter how the path turned.

  We cycled through small quaint villages and open fields of germinating potatoes and more or less depleted tulip fields.

That's a lot of potatoes.

This would have been spectacular when in full bloom.

 

A number of us chose to end the cycling journey for the day as we met up with the boat. Some of the more energetic ones decided to carry on and cycle to the end.  They presented themselves as a fine silhouette as they crossed a dyke and we headed out on the boat.

The intrepid cyclists.