May 19 Dordrecht to Vianen
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 below sea level and is surrounded by dikes within a system of canals. One of the windmills is a museum. At the windmill we visited there were out buildings including a work shop and a year round kitchen. There was a vegetable garden and 18th century undergarment drying on the line by the 100 year old ringer washing machine. There were goats in a pen and in a nearby field there were horses, sheep and Canada geese enjoying the sunshine. Much has been added to the site since our visit in the fall of 2015. The old steam house was rebuilt and contains a scale model of how the steam system worked to move the water. There was some of the actual equipment rebuilt in the building. The polder system now uses a modern Archimedes screw system.
There are walking paths and bicycle paths to the different windmills which are private, but can be viewed from the outside. The paths also connect to the many local paths. There were many people walking or cycling today which is the Sunday of a long weekend in the Netherlands.
We continued noting that the clouds were starting to get grey. After an hour we stopped at an intersection of paths where an ice cream truck was doing a brisk business. Mieke suggested that we stop here for lunch since the usual place in Schoonhoven was closed on Sundays. Most of the group ordered ice cream. Then we returned to our bikes for the final leg to get to Schoonhoven. We were travelling through picturesque fields and villages. We stopped when a man with a long lensed camera said he was photographing an owl. We could hear muffled thunder even though the sun was shining.
We cycled through Groot-Ammers which is a village known for its many storks and arrived at Gelkenes Molen. It has four more windmills which were closed today. Mieke gave our group time to take photos and gather at the last windmill when we were finished. Then it was a short ride to the rive Lek to the ferry terminal where we joined Peter’s group for a short wait for the ferry to cross over to Schoonhoven. Schoohaove’s nickname is Silver City since it is renowned for its silversmiths. Most shops are closed on Sunday.
At Schoonhoven, eight of us decided to go to the boat which was moored nearby. Mieke guided us the 500 meters to the boat then rejoined the others for the 24 km ride to Vianen. We opted to go to the boat and enjoyed the cruise to Vianen. Our distance cycing today was 32.7 km. We were underway within 15 minutes of boarding.There was some apple pie and other snacks for the late afternoon. Checking the weather radar, it looked like the cyclers would encounter showers, but they did not. They met the boat in Vianen for our overnight mooring.
Vianen was a small fortified town. On our evening walk we found the last remaining gate (Lekpoort) of the old walled city built in the 15th century not far from the two-storey restored Namur stone façade of City Hall. A total restoration was undertaken in the early 1980s. The temperature was 18 for a pleasant after dinner walk.
Total steps 9,844
Comments
Post a Comment