so my first visit to the netherlands and from the air it really does look flat after scotland but as i discovered over the next 5 days its scenery,villages and towns are scenicly breathtaking...
to avoid the city rush hour traffic hanneke headed to her home village via the poulders region...an area of manmade (reclaimed) farmland and bulb fields...
hanneke lives in a small village beside the river ijessel in the veluwe region which is renowed for its scenic beauty and wildlife...and it is stunning...
the village and surrounding farmhouses and gardens are immaculate...
we walked along the riverside through meadows of flowers that reveiled hidden beaches...and postcard picnic sites...
alongside the river from zwolle to deventer is the raised dyke road which must be one of the most scenic cycles i have ridden...
first time i have seen storks...
a WW2 roadside defence bunker...
unlike scotland i saw no litter anywhere in the countryside,small towns and villages...
there is also alot of woodland...sandy undulating paths through heather floored woods of scots pines, silver birch and alder amongst other familiar trees...
if you have ever been to rothiemurcus forest and the surrounding woods of avimore in the scottish highlands you will feel at home deep in these woods...
the woodland are populated with boar and red squirrels...only the latter are still in scotland in small areas...
we cycled to the towns of zwolle and deventer and the towns arcitecture is lovely...and cafe lifestyle is right up my er...street...
zwolle had a really nice pancake shop...love the apple and ciminom pancakes...
daventer is a larger town and despite a weekend and being real busy everyone was chilled out and just strolling about...
i liked the charles dickens street with themes from his most famous novels...
most days the temperture was around 24-26C...warmer than the UK with a chill air after sunset...
i didnt get to meet up with tommy as he was working but hope to meet up next visit soon though i met some of hanneke`s friends and family and everyone made me very welcome...including hanneke`s best friend...diesel!..
all good things come to an end and soon enough it was time to come home...
oh i havent mentioned the famous dutch cycling culture yet?...oh dont worry fellow bike geeks!...loads and loads of pics and film to edit still...
i will do another post soon on cycling and bikes dutch style...
Looks like a great holiday. Glad to see the perpetual eruption didn't stop you. I wonder if storks are some how related to osprey as I know the osprey make their nests in the same style. Oh well, looking forward to the rest of your cycling fun!
ReplyDeleteWelkom in Nederland.
ReplyDeleteIk hoop dat je een leuke tijd hebt gehad.
De volgende keer gaan we zeker een stukje fietsen.
Met vriendelijke groeten Tommy
PS The bunker is Cold war periode. The Turret on the photo is from an encased RAM tank. And was part of the former IJssellinie.
Looks great over there doesn't it. You really see the litter when uyou get back home don't you.
ReplyDeleteWe're off to see our Dutch pals next month for a few days. They're near Eindhoven and have a pig farm. Its great but jings it smells like - well, a pig farm really!
This has put me right in the mood.
Cheers.....Al.
Great photos.. thanks for that tour. In my classroom we are reading a story about a little boy who saves his village by stopping the water from flowing from the hole in the dike... We're all about Holland,windmills,tulips.. the cliche Holland this week!
ReplyDeletecraigers; we have ospreys here in scotland and they do nest in high trees!...
ReplyDeletetommy; your countryside is lovely!, there tanks buried?...thats cool,the machine guns are browning i think?
alistair; yeah lots of litter again,fast driving and general living over here again!
ali b; remmember clogs too!, saw alot of folk wearing them working in the countryside...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete