A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That . .: Day 2 of the Bike Barge Trip - Vianen to Dordrecht - Sunday

I didn't sleep much last night, which doesn't make it a nice day especially when I have to bike over 30 miles too. Breakfast was at 8 am and we started riding at 9 am. We started riding from Vianen through beautiful little villages along canals. Most of the riding today was done on top of the dikes. It was nice and sunny and sometimes way too hot.

Jeff all ready and eager to go

Cute house along our way

On one of the bike paths

Lawn art

You never know what might come along on the paths

More Dutch houses

We stopped a few times to take pictures. There were several stork’s nests along the way. Our lunch stop was in the town of Schoonhoven. We had made a bag lunch this morning and ate that along a canal in the city. After lunch Jeff and I did a short ride around the town before meeting everyone by the ferry. We had to take the ferry over the river to Nieuwpoort. From there I tried to keep up with the tour. My only complaint, so far, is that Tom doesn't stop often enough. I would like to take some pictures but if I stop and take my pictures the group is about half a mile ahead already and I don’t want to ride fast to catch up. The group did stop for a refreshment/bathroom break at a farm stand. Jeff and I took off before Tom and the group did, just so I could take my pictures and go slowly. I was sure they would catch up with us.

Couple of storks nests

This one has at least 2 babies

More storks nests

Schoonhoven

Jeff helping some lady carry her bike down the stairs
in Schoonhoven

Schoonhoven town gate

Waiting to board the ferry

Geese waiting for the ferry on the other side

One of the many windmills

Another use for old wooden clogs

Duck nesting basket

Happy Dutch cows

She is taking her dog for a ride

The bike lanes are pretty well organized here. Each intersection has a number and if you just follow the numbers you’ll get where you want to go. We got a map and the numbers for each ride so we thought we’ll be fine on our own. We did pretty well, but there were couple of times where there could have been more signs. We had to ask couple of times, just to make sure we were heading the right direction. I do have to say that Dutch people are very friendly and helpful. And you really should see their yards. They are so well kept, lawns are trimmed as if they are golf courses. Our barge was waiting for us at a town called Kinderdijk. When we were approaching the town there many windmills along the canal. Kinderdijk is UNESCO World Heritage Site. It looked like some of the windmills were used as homes, but some of them are also part of a museum.

Bike route markers

Bike route map

Approaching Kinderdijk

We biked about 32 miles today. It’s the longest distance I've biked, ever. I was surprised that I felt fine afterwards, other than a mild sunburn and blister in my lip, not happy about that.

We got on board in Kinderdijk and then sailed to Dordrecht. It was interesting to see our captain Karl to back the barge up through a drawbridge and dock it among the many many boats that were already in there. It was pretty tight, but he did a good job. Dinner on board again, all the meals are included on this trip. This time we had tomato soup, a chicken, potato and vegetable main dish and a Dutch dessert which had thick yogurt/whipped cream with fresh fruit. I was exhausted from biking, the sun and lack of sleep so I decided to go to bed early. Jeff went and did Tom’s tour of Dordrecht. If you want to see pictures of that you have to go and read Jeff’s blog.