Tag: biking in Netherlands

Real or Fake?

January 3, 2022

Today is my last day in the Dutch wilderness (a empty campground cabin) without the Hubby. He will join me for these next few days.

A huge storm blew in overnight dumping tons of rain and brought howling winds. At some point I did wonder what would happen if we got enough water that I would float off into the lake while I was sleeping.

Then it cleared. The sky had a million stars. The Weerribben is maybe one of the few places here in the Netherlands where there is minimal light pollution, making it an excellent place (when it is clear) to see the night sky.

I started the day by biking to Oldemarkt, a small village about 3 kilometers from the campground.

The winds gusting to near 25mph I wasn’t sure I wanted to bike but I did need a few items. So I bravely packed my gear and set out.

The thing about biking in The Netherlands is that wind is almost constantly a factor. Knowing that can be more a mental state of self motivation.

“I will have a headwind going, so I will get there faster. Maybe, while I am shopping the wind will magically change direction or disappear.”

We all tell ourselves these sort of lies in order to make it easier keep going.

So, I am sure this is why I saw several stickers today along my route.

This was the first one. No translation needed.
Here is another picture one inside Oldemarkt. NOS is a Dutch media outlet.

As I entered town I saw that the bakery was closed, won’t reopen until 5 January. I saw all the other businesses along the one Main Street were also closed per the national lockdown. So… maybe not everyone in this village believes these stickers.

Wonderful day to window shop. Body amour for sale? Awesome!

As I entered into the small village grocery there were a few customers it not anything like I experience in the busy area where we live close to Amsterdam. People were like anywhere these days, some half way made an effort to wear a mask, others not at all. Some people kept their distance, some not at all.

I made my purchases and made my way towards the cabin.

No, the wind did not change magically while I was shopping. So I window shopped some more before tackling the flat expanse. I walked slowly with my bike along side. Noticing things I haven’t seen before on other visits to this village.

One of the three churches in Oldemarkt. I like the added smile on the the other building.

There are three churches. An antique store. Two knitting/craft shops (mental note must visit next time I am here). A garden with a miniature train track. What a cool find!

A garden along my route in Oldemarkt with train tracks. I would love to have seen the train.

Did they exist all this time? Of course. I just needed to slow down an really pay attention. These items and places are real. Appreciate.

A bit of real window shopping.

Just because we don’t see things doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Fake or real we all must determine it for ourselves. Oldemarkt is real, the virus that no one sees is real. Media is real. Sometimes what we see or experience can be fake.

Another church in Oldemarkt.

I know the wind was real for my ride across the flat Dutch fields!

© The Cedar Journal, 2022, all rights reserved.

Limburg Camping Escape

August 20, 2020

We have accomplished another short escape from the Amsterdam area. This time we headed to Limburg.

A window box of flowers in Eygelshoven. We saw many of these along our bike ride.

Normally we stay at a wonderful B&B (Meens B&B) in Schinnen but this time of the year, most vacation lodging is booked far in advance. This year with Covid running rampant in European vacation locations outside of the Netherlands, many Dutch have decided to stay and vacation here inside the country. This has made getting accommodations (even camping spots) challenging.

We decided on very short notice to go to Limburg. We were very lucky to find a farm camping location in the outskirts of Landgraaf.

I worked in Limburg for a couple of years prior to my retirement and knew that Landgraaf has a downhill ski facility and hosts a summer music festival (that didn’t happen this summer). As in most locations where I have worked sometimes I didn’t really explore as much as I would have liked due to time constraints. It is nice now to really enjoy the areas around where I spent my last two years of employment with the US Government.

Sign into the farm camping.

We were nicely surprised at this camping location. Large roomy bathroom facilities. Trees between the camping spots that provide some much needed shade as the temperatures creeped towards 30C. A expansive view of the Limburg landscape reaching into Germany. The German border is only 2 kilometers (approximately 1 mile) from where we camped.

Morning view over the Limburg landscape

The differences in Limburg from Amsterdam area are vast. Hills instead of flat land make it great for bicycle training. The Dutch language also changes here into something that is part German, local Dutch and influenced also by the Belgium speakers of French, making hard even for my Dutch hubby to understand.

It was a nice getaway. Biking in the Limburg area, relaxing at the campsite. Too short in duration, different too from other vacations as we can’t just shop without a mask or are constantly thinking is this or that safe. It was a time to regroup, reconnect, listen to nature and re-energize.

A few thousand free range chickens next to the camping.
These cattle were trying to stay cool and keep the flies away. Much like the campers

Loaded down with the last of my American shopping for the year we head home to Amsterdam.

My bike loaded with American products from the military commissary.

©️The Cedar Journal,2020, all rights reserved

Birders?

August 3, 2020
The Hubby practices the birding stance.

We love nature and we love exploring it in our human powered floating vessel. We have joked over our years of blogging that we might upend the birding world with some of our sightings. Please don’t fear bird bloggers we will not become the new birding community influencers with our most recent outdoor adventure.

We started our morning riding our bikes from our camping to the bird observation tower that is located on the far Eastern edge of the Weerribben National Park. We rode fast to try to beat the rain clouds. we suffered a short delay as I experienced an unexpected acrobatic bike fall that resulted in road rash and a very bruised ego. At 54 I don’t recover nearly as quickly from such events.

On our bike route, and within view of the observation tower, the Hubby spotted his first photo note worthy bird of the day, a spoonbill wading in the water.

Our first bird of the day, a spoonbill.

Once we reached the tower we were greeted by another birder. The enthusiastic older man was instantly impressed with the Hubby’s Nikon camera. Well… at least in the camera brand. He was also a Nikon owner but had a huge birder zoom lens attached. I have learned that talking about lens size in the birding world is a great conversation ice breaker. Soon the Hubby and this older birder were discussing all the birds that the man had spotted from this tower on past visits.

As the guys were discussing the finer points of the birding world I took this photo of a small reed bird.

Action shot of a reed bird.

Soon the other bird observer announced it was time for coffee and left us alone on the tower. The wind blew but the rain storm didn’t appear as we watched a pair of storks fly overhead.

A stork flying past the observation tower.

Once we had enough of looking at birds from the tower we biked to another location with a bird observation point. Before we arrived we had our best close up sighting of the day, a stork.

This stork was hanging around in a backyard of someone’s house.
The other observation deck. Not nearly as clean or as nice as the tower we had just visited.
The end of our birding tour brought us into Kalenberg and this site. A stork nest and the stork. No babies were seen.

©️ The Cedar Journal, 2020, all rights reserved.