Holland

This Best Western is a short shuttle ride from Amsterdam airport and we got here just after 7.00pm. I quickly put the bikes together ready for the morningThe only damage was a broken off screw holding the carrier on Christines bike which the good old gaffa tape patches together. We thought it would be late morning before we’d get away next day but our body clocks had other ideas! We woke at 4.00am all excited and raring to go. Trouble was it didn’t get light until 6.00. The hotel have stored our bike bags until we return. The goal today is to just get to Utrecht, 50kms SE and on the 3 city cycle way ( London, Berlin, Warsaw)Europe’s been hit by storms lately and there was evidence of it along the way. Luckily it’s a lovely day today , a bit chilly this morning though. we still haven’t had breakfast so we stopped at a supermarket for fruit and yogurt. HEY ,free coffee in the supermarket!We’re recognising parts of a section we were on last year with Peter, Jacqui and Ash when we were passing this way to the ferry. This is Brooklyn. People from here settled the part of New York in the 1700’s which they named after their home town. This is the Original Brooklyn Bridge. ‘Barge and bike’ tours are very popular in this region. This is the 5th group we passed with about 40 per group.Utrecht ! The chap at the bike shop did a better patch up using cable ties. It’s only 12 o’clock so we’ll go sight seeing and start looking for accomodation. look closely at this whale in the town centre. It’s made entirely out of recycled plastic. The old part of town is loaded with tourists . We found a hotel that suited us 10 kms further along our bike route in Zeist . Past the new Utrecht University , hardly a car in sight but electric bus’s and bikeways to die for! Zeist. 65kms and the jet lag is finally kicking in . It’s 7.30pm and we’re ready for bed