Amsterdam

It's a clear and sunny morning in a little clearing about 30km north of Amsterdam in a little town called Monnickendam. We're doing an overnight trip as a practise run and so far it's going pretty well. P2 had a bit of trouble sleeping but hopefully it's just a matter of growing accustomed to accommodation al fresco. We're staying at a nature camping site (Natuurkampingterrein) which usually means it's a small campsite for tents rather than a massive caravan park. This place doubles as a yacht harbour so the amenities are well maintained and there's lots of pretty boats to look at.

But to fill you in on our journey thus far, yes we did make the overnight ferry from 'arritch in the end and it was quite a buzz to be on such a huge boat for the first time.

Before crashing, exhausted, in our cosy yet comfortable quarters we willed ourselves to take a quick tour around the ship.

We figured the bridge was off limits but we caught a glimpse, as we boarded, of the long glassed platform at the top of the ship, looking more like a control tower than a cockpit.
Out back was filled with shipping containers all neatly aligned. With the white ferry and it's cargo brightly lit against the black sea it looked like the set of a budget sci-fi flick. If only we'd brought the camera and a large fish bowl I could have had a true nerd moment.

We took a peek over the side at the dark water churning far below and tried to estimate how many seconds it would take once you'd fallen overboard to disappear from sight completely. My guess would be around 3 seconds.

In the morning we arrived at Hoek van Holland and caught the train to Amsterdam, narrowly escaping a fine for not having tickets for our bikes (oops) and were greeted by our local friend Vera (who we met on a learn to surf camp in Oz) and her bicycle, naturally. She kindly gave us a few tips about cycling in the city-.= (watch out for the tourists) before leading our first expedition through Amsterdam to Koosje's place (friend from same camp who's turned out to be quite mad about surfing).

Koosje was unfortunately out of town for work but kindly lent us her cool apartment right on the party streets of town. After dropping off our gear we went on an impromptu gastro tour starting with raw herring on a soft bun with pickles and onions (although I jumped at the opportunity I did find it a bit challenging), pointers to the best frites and deep fried snacks in town and rounded off with a large plate poffertjes, buckwheat dumpling-shaped pancakes hidden under a mountain of fresh butter and icing sugar. Yum yum!

Later, we ventured out ourselves to the ANWB (local equiv to the NRMA) for some maps and bit of guidance about campsite. The staff weren't as clued up on the cycling routes as I'd hoped, being a motoring association might have something to do with it. We decided that the maps on offer didn't provide any extra detail than the one we already had so we would try our luck with our 1:300 000 and wing it.

Fortunately this is working out ok so far. Being a densely populated country (compared to Australia), you're never too far from some kind of help, either official or a friendly local.

That night we met up with Vera and her boyfriend for dinner in Chinatown. It's funny how we always seem to end up in Chinatown in every capital city. I used to think it a bit pointless from a cultural perspective but I always double take when I hear large numbers of Chinese speaking a non-Asian, non-English language, mixed in with the regular Cantonese. I wonder if I can detect the Chinese accent in this other language too.

We spent the next day shopping for basics (food supplies, SIM card, replacement trousers for V) and the following morning, after much faffing around we finally set off.

It didn't take long at all for the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam to fade behind us. A short ferry ride north of the station and we were in suburbia. A few kms further and we were riding past some really smart looking houseboats along the canals. I'd never had guessed that modern architecture had extended to houseboats.

My favourite bit of the ride was a long bridge of land that extended out from the coast and stretched for kilometres. It was only wide enough for a two-way road and a raised bicycle path (fietspad). From there we had a clear view of the water on both sides with odd boat and plenty of birds.

As we approached our destination we met a farmer ("I have a farm. MOOOO!") who, after realising we couldn't understand his request to kindly stay on our side of the path, struck up a conversation as we rode. "Where? Oh, MONnickendam, not monNICKendam. From Australia? You cycled all the way? Ja, it's good to travel. Keeps the mind open. Maybe you..." I lost the thread at this point but he made surprising gestures which I later understood to be an offer of work on his farm milking cows. What a friendly chap.