Posted by Les Faber in After a nice evening in Gouda we went back to our hotel and planned our trip to Kinderdijk. This area of the Netherlands has the largest concentration of windmills (some still operational).
Read about Days 1 (here), 2 (here), 3 (here), 4 (here), 5 (here), 6 (here), 7 (here), 8 (here), 9 (here), 10 (here) & 11 (here) of our Netherlands cycling adventure.
Today’s trip would be a loop – finding us back at our hotel that evening.
Our ride was as good as the previous day’s trip.
Our first stop was at Schoonhoven. A very nice (old) town. A perfect spot for a coffee in the old market. From there it was a short ferry ride across the Lek River and on to Groot Ammers. Finally, the true Netherlands showed itself. Yes rain! Actually I was corrected that evening by the proprietor of our hotel. She called it a “wet wind”. She was right. It never really rained. It seemed like it was about to though.
A note about Dutch weather: I have always been amazed at how much Helen’s Mom talked about the weather (she is Dutch). Her favorite TV station is the Weather Channel. You get my drift. Everyone here follows the weather – very closely. A Dutch couple we met at our hotel gave us a link to a website that tracks rainstorms across Holland. Yep, they like their weather. I guess you need to as the Dutch spend lots of time outdoors and really value good clear skies….. Which brings me to point number 2 of my speech. Each and every day we got up, it was cloudy (without fail). If the sun came out, it would wait until noon to do so (you can set your watch by it). Every morning has been brisk. KInda cold to start cycling at 7. So we waited until after 10 – 
We were out in the middle of nowhere. There are so many fietspads in the area that a wrong turn is really an opportunity to discover something exciting. At one point Helen and I were “misguided” (I won’t say lost). Despite my masculine resistance to asking directions, I broke down and asked the first human being we had seen in 2 hours how to get to the KInderdijk. It happened to be an older Dutch woman who spoke no English …. No matter, Helen does have some Dutch linguistic skills. The woman pointed us along a fietspad that looked “under-used” telling us that t was the nicer of 2 ways we could go. Great choice! We had one of the best mini-rides of our entire trip as Helen’s photos will attest.
We arrived at the Kinderdijk and were treated to some beautiful views – despite the cloudy day and threatening weather.
Our ride back was relatively uneventful. I took a wrong turn somewhere and we ended up on top of a dike traveling back to Gouda (into the wind). We were on a public road which was very narrow and well-traveled by trucks and such. Here’s the kicker. Neither Helen nor I were at all nervous. Back home you are always aware of 2 way traffic and kringe when you see a vehicle coming towards you (wondering what is coming behind and where you will go as neither vehicle will cede the road). Not here – as bikes are king. Not once did we have to worry. Cars and trucks simply pull off the road and yield to cyclists. How fun is that? (No yelling “Car back!”)
As we got close to Gouda, I spotted a cool little ferry that would take us across the river and shave a few kilometers from our trip.
All in all a great cycling day with somewhere around 70 kilometers under our cycling belts!
Dear “Faber”cyclists:
Enjoying again your day 12 blog and pictures just as all the other daily cycling adventures there.
Thanks Douwe. We are back now and dealing with jet lag etc…..
Les and Helen,
It was great to follow your trip and especially see the great pictures of the local countryside! See you soon and we can hear all the details over a nice glass of wine!
Do you have any recommendations for resources on how to bike from Gouda to Kinderdijk? I’d like to find the best route and approx. how much time or distance it would be one way. Thanks for any guidance you may have.
Hi Tara,
I will assume that you have never cycled in Holland. Holland has more cycling routes than roads (+11,000km.!). And it is a very small country. If was to say “just follow the signs”, you may be put off. But, in fact, that is all you have to do. All bike paths are clearly marked. We only had a general map of the country’s cycling routes with us when we went. I never really got lost (maybe “directionally challenged”).
Offhand I am not sure of the distance. Google Maps says 44km. But that is by road. It’ll be shorter by bike. BTW, that’s a nice area to cycle in. We did a return trip in one day – on bike old Dutch bikes!. In retrospect the route from Gouda down was better than the route back.
I wish I woulld have seen this site before I went to Holland however I feel like we did the same trip. My favorite part was heading south from Alkmaar along the North Sea down to Belgium. Lunch in Zandvoort along the sea down to Den Haag ending late at night in Ouddorp, only to find there was no place to stay. Rescued by a family that put me up for the night, fed me and brought me to a bike store to get my bike fixed. The people are great and you are right I felt safe the hole trip. My advice is just do it and go the places in between the big cities are just as nice. Joe From Welland Ont. Can.
My wife and I are planning to do a cycle tour in Holland at the end of September and beginning of October 2010. I will appreciate all help on planning the tour and recommendation on accommodation, etc.
Buks Potgieter (South Africa)
Hello Buks,
First things first… I think your trip is too late in the season. We lucked out weather-wise when we went. And you are looking at going even later. You may want to reconsider.
Helen & I booked accommodations along the way. It is off-season at that time. You will have no problems at all.
It may sound trite… But don’t plan too much. Just have a rough idea of where you want to go and start cycling. Everything will fall into place for you. The country is built around cyclists.
Enjoy!