Cycling Bruges to Amsterdam 2024

      We were up early for our 8:30 a.m. KLM flight to London Heathrow.   Leaving the hotel at 5:15 a.m. was too early to get the included breakfast. We took a taxi from the hotel in Hoofddrop to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The taxi arrived as requested at 5:15 a.m., even though the clerk said that the other people waiting in the lobby had a ten minute delay for their taxi. Their taxi arrived a few minutes before ours. The clerk said that all the hotels were full and taxis were in demand. The 15 minute ride to the airport was €33 plus tip.     The temperature was 13°C, there was a light breeze and just a sprinkle of rain on the way to the airport.     We could not checkin online yesterday, since the KLM app would not process a phone scanned passport. There was no problem at the airport. Both suitcases were just over 20 Kg, but under the airline weight limit.   We could not pay for the baggage charge in advance after numerous tries and it cos...

     This morning’s temperature was 15°C, wind ENE 10 km/hr sunny, no fog in sight, just a distant faint haze. There were just some streaks of light cloud in the blue sky. There was another moderate weather warning for late afternoon into the night. The rain and wind started about 6:30 p.m.    Everything was packed and the suitcases were placed in the hallway for the staff to collect and take to the main deck. It was the final breakfast of the voyage. Everyone was in great spirits, most looking forward to a day exploring Amsterdam. Goodbyes said, we took the free ferry across to Amsterdam Centraal Station to take the train to get to our hotel in Hoofddorp, near Amsterdam Airport Schiphol for tomorrow morning’s early flight.   From leaving the boat to sitting on the train was less than 20 minutes. The train ride was 25 minutes and the walk from the train station to the hotel was just over 15 minutes. Since we have been staying at the same hotel chain in Fort...

     The boat engines started at 7 a.m. this morning, but we stayed in place until 8 a.m., the lock schedule is on holiday operations since today is a holiday, Whit (Pentecost) Monday.   Outside it was raining but it ended after ten minutes.   At 7 a.m. the temperature was 15°C, cloudy skies with occasional showers and wind was NNW 14 gusting to 23 km/hr. Most of the morning there were sunny breaks. The forecast for this afternoon was rain for the Netherlands and Belgium.     We had breakfast as we cruised on the way to Breukelen (Brooklyn). Within the first hour we went through three locks. Just after 9 o’clock, we were passing Utrecht. This is the final day of cycling to Amsterdam. The whole group picked the long route, which at 47 km was only seven kilometres more than the short route. The six independent cyclists signed the daily chart as “Rogue” this morning. There were three people staying onboard so the remaining 22 will be travelling in two gro...

     This morning there was light fog, as usual, visibility was about five km, but by 9:15 a.m. when we all left for the water bus station, the sun was burning off the last of the fog.      We wheeled our bikes on to the water bus and a crew member took   the bike and stored them at the back of the water bus. Peter advised us that we were just to take one of the Boat Bike bicycles as we disembarked in Alblasserdam, then on land we could find our own bike. The 5.5 km cruise took about 15 minutes. It was another 5.3 km to the Kinderdijk Visitor Center and gift shop. It has been open since 2022, having been constructed during the COVID world wide shutdown. The upper level deck gave great views of the 19 windmills. Some had sails unfurled and were spinning in the wind.     Kinderdijk is a village where the windmills were built in the mid 1700s to pump water out of the low polder.   A polder windmill mechanically pumps water from land that is...