789 – Wednesday 26th July 2017:  Doggy Ride

Oscar’s new bike trailer!  K did some research and for good quality and mid price dog bike trailer.  We do not tow a car or have a moped … just bikes or our legs.  In some countries dogs are not allowed on public transport, so getting around can be quite limiting if we park some distance from a site or don’t want to move Jez.  We are thinking about buying E- Bikes to extend our range, but at £1500+ each, we need to be absolutely sure that Oscar is happy in a trailer.  Anyway – DoggyRide came out tops.  We made contact with the European office in Holland – the owner is Dutch but lives in the States.  We went for a Novel 10 – it is aluminium so weighs in at 15kgs with the extras:  soft memory foam cushion (only the best for O), a kickstand and cargo rack.  The choice was also influence a little by the orange colour to match his fur, lead and collar!  

What can we say?  Well, he will have a lot to say – not all good, though…. Euro400 is worth it – and he slept happily there on day 1 – but…. on the road, his barking is – well – loud and incessant!!!  Any motion and he’s off again … it does stop after about an hour.  More anon – we will travel (as always) hopefully – in Oscardillacville.   Every time we return to the bikes and Os-car he bounds right up to rear and happily hops in to be rewarded by a treat … he is a real greedy boy.  Wish he could understand that his options are limited … stay home alone or come with us and travel in the Os-car along roads.

BBQ in the evening…  Wonderful cycle tracks – great for running.

Stage 1 of becoming accustomed going well.  He was happy to sleep in it to.

790 – Thursday 27th July 2017:  Houten

Houten is a large and modern.  We reckon every building was under 20 years old.  However, as we cycled in we spotted a small market.  K managed to NOT buy some of the wool … she has enough for about 4 projects stored!  We did buy a few cycle items … a high pressure pump, a rear view mirror and a kick stand for K’s bike  … Oscar – the bills associate with you are mounting up!

A small lunch out and local beer, again!  And we followed the signs to the old town … we think we found it, but is only amounted to a small square.  With so many cycle tracks, we managed an involuntary detour the long way home!  At least it was flat.

 

791 – Friday 28th July 2017:  Waterlinie Museum and Bunnik

As we said, the Os-car is a work in barkness (not darkness).  We cycled and O ran most of the way as it was off road to the fort which houses the Waterlinie Museum.  This is one of the most unusual and best we’ve visited. Interactive, informative about how Holland used water to defend the country for a few hundred years, successfully until WW2.  We took turns in the museum or had a coffee in the newly opened bar.  Lovely chap with the student running it; interestingly he’s studying security and safety in the contact to urban planning.  Couldn’t do enough to be helpful, free crisps and offered to top up coffee.  Another nice experience.

We bought some more cycle bits in the main town – I cannot remember the context but K used the word “cycle logical” for one bike bit!!!   

Newish interactive museum inside a Water Line fort … yep we go through that crack.

The enemy are attacking.  Which polders will you flood?

The threat of the flooding also preserved the Netherlands neutrality in WW1 – A report from a few years before stated that once the water line was flooded, the rich west was impenetrable.

These different characters told their side of the water line story using projected faces.  The easterners were not allowed to relocate to the west but their lands were flooded, even in practice.

The best bit – you were flown up over the landscape and shown it in its agricultural state and then flooded.  Loved it.

792 – Saturday 29th July 2017:  Huizen

Free Aire.  We walked along front – all suburbia and completely devoid of people – at a weekend in summer!  Alan – a lovely man we met (American and converted Dutchman) said they’re all in Espana, chasing the sun … which is where we should be!   We gave up trying to find a town centre.  Not somewhere to put on your must visit list!

The boats are here, but WHERE is everyone and the town centre?

Nothing for it, but the obligatory drink stop.  A baby shower going on behind us. 

793 – Sunday 30th July 2017:  Naarden

Sunday – we both ran early – I managed to get my distance up to 7K – best since the Severn Bridge a month ago – improving… 

We loaded up the Os-car and cycled towards Naarden. Sunny to start – then the heavens opened with almost ‘Gibraltar-esque’ heavy rain (24hr stair rods). We were quickly soaked through and sought refuge in a restaurant – much to the amusement of staff and patrons!  K gave me her nice girly t-shirt and I posed suitably…  (K:  Bless, didn’t want my man catching a chill!).  A light lunch turned into two courses, as we spotted the dessert served at another table:  J just had to try hot apple pie, cinnamon with ice cream and cream … K did a taste test.  And we dried off mostly… Back on the trail and – warm sun emerged! 

We purchased the Museum Card, which gives us free access to about 400 museums in the Netherlands for EUR60 for a year.  K had done a costing and with Amsterdam coming up in a few days, it will be worth it.  The fort museum was a bit uninteresting and all in Dutch – and we would have voted it not worth the money at EUR 9pp, but somehow with the museum card it counts as free!  This was another case of where the card reader will not take anything but a Dutch debit or credit card.  So far our cards have been rejected at a campsite, restaurants, the Doggyy Ride place and now a national museum.  We are having to use an ATM every few days, making us more conscious of our spending!  The fort goats were quite  interested in Oscar, who was allowed in.  The town centre very pleasant – and with a few people here although mostly tourists.  And a beer stop… The main church in town has a fascinating timber roof and the Town Hall is worth a look.

Suits you!  All J needed was a medallion!  Or boobs!

Naarden fort. 

It is star shaped and surrounded by a twin layer of moat and canal.

Hey you orange dog.  You looking at me? …

…You still interested?  Got me mates to back me up!

The Town hall

The great church had a super painted nave.

Funny little green men.  We’ve seen a lot of these … even families have them outside their homes for when the children are playing.  Good idea. 

794 – Monday 31th July 2017:  Markham

A very late start as K read till 2.30 a.m.!  We drove to Markham – too touristy and prices to match (EUR7 for 2 hours parking!).  Pretty wooden houses and surrounded by water and connected to the mainland by a long causeway.  A quick visit and Oscarwalk, then off again.

Our overnight stay – in the car park of a local “Clog and Cheese” emporium near … Edam – lovely!  A quick tour explained how the cheese was made, lots of gifts to buy and a cheese tasting.  See K as buxom Dutch lady! (K:  I wish … buxom that is!).  So many clogs – and so much cheese – edible purchases, naturally!  10 van as of 7:00 pm – and still squeezing in… early evening sunshine, too.

J took O for an early evening walk and he came back green!  Oscar that is.  O had either assumed that he could walk on water or that the green on top of a drainage ditch was grass!  Oops.  Apparently J had to help pull him out as he was in shock!  He got a good rubbing down before he was allowed back in the van. 

Markham:  Seriously busy and touristy.  Car park EUR3 per hour!!!

Mark:  Clog Tree.  Outside a clog shop – selling clogs at EUR60-70 – we saw them later for EUR35.

Markham:  Pretty wooden houses.  Though so squeaky and immaculate they could be UPVC rather than wood.

Gosh, I’ve put on a few lbs here!   The cheese and clog maker allows Motorhomes to park overnight in his car park, so here we are!

Cheeses are left to mature at room temperature.  We tasted a fair few and came away with an Edam (I know!!!, but it tastes so much better than what you buy at home … Edam is a style of cheese not a geographic area) and a cumin Gouda.

Clog City.

Not my size!  Tried some on and found them quite hard to walk in.