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| The beautiful old town of Drimmelen |
Yes, we are still here and have decided
to stay on until Thursday as it is only just over an hour’s drive to the Ferry
at Rotterdam. After Ian’s treatments, we are taking it quietly, and enjoying a
“cruisey” time exploring this area on our bikes. Starting to feel like a local
as we join the huge number of bikers on the roads, and the cars are so
courteous. I will seriously miss the bike when I get home, yesterday we rode
over the bridge to the neighbouring village and found a supermarket, parked the
bikes along with heaps of others, did the shopping, loaded everything into the
panniers and then back to the van. We noticed last year when we were in Holland
that it was hard to find a supermarket that had much parking, there were none
of the superstores on the outskirts of town that we are used to and realised
that as the housing is very dense, the stores are built in the middle of the towns
and everyone is so close that they either bike or walk for their supplies.
Walked into our village with my
camera last night and so enjoyed looking at all the houses, they are quite old,
built right on the pavement but are just immaculate. There are large picture
windows facing the streets and as you walk past you can see into their homes.
The windows are decorated with pieces of pottery, flowers or other interesting
items. The only sad thing is that the town is overshadowed by a huge coal fired
power station, the largest in Netherlands, which really spoils the beauty.
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| House windows and frontages are design pieces. |
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| Reflections. |
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| Shadows and curtains. |
The weather has been just amazing
with today’s temperature close to 30, although the forecast for tomorrow is
cooler and some rain. Evidently it has not been a very good summer so people
are really enjoying this break. Using the App we found the cycle route numbers
that took us to the neighbouring town of Drimmelen, which is on the Maas River
and has a very large marina. It was such an interesting ride, through the town
then out into the country passing huge areas of glass houses, and dairy and pig
farms. The route was really easy to follow. The harbour was bustling with so
many boats and lots of cafes. It was so hot, seemed a good idea to stop for a
cold beer and a really nice salad for lunch before meandering our way back by a
different route.
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| The boat harbour, Drimmelen |
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| Everybody is out riding. |
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| Just so many glass houses. |
Called into a bike store and got
a new stand for my bike, the one that it came with has been a real pain, making
it very hard to get the bike to stand by itself. Ian fitted the new one on and
it works a treat. A few more supplies from the supermarket and home to sit in
the shade, it really is a hot one.
Hopped on our bikes tonight and
rode into town, a huge distance of 500 metres (!!), and had a really nice meal
sitting outside on the pavement, under the trees, then back on the bikes to the
camper. Could get quite used to this lifestyle!
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| An industrial sunset |
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| Sitting at the cafe this evening. |
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