July 28-29 2025 – Haarlem to the Vecht River
We loaded up and headed out from Haarlem under cloudy skies. A little rain along the way but a beautiful ride to Hoofdorp along mostly well-known routes.
As usual boats on the canal and a stop to say hello to the Lama – only one this time. On through a beautiful park and then restful fields the whole way into Hoofdorp, with the massive Schiphol complex on the left for the last couple of kms.
We needed to stop in Hoofdorp to talk to DGM, the dangerous goods shipper about getting our batteries home. We expected a long delay and more disappointment, but were finally pleasantly surpized to learn they would ship the batteries with no problem and it would only take an hour to get the required documents filed. But now we’re having such a good time we’re thinking maybe we’ll leave the bikes with Ernst one more year. Decisions…
Since we didn’t know how long the Hoofdorp stop would take, we only wanted to go as far as De Kwakel. As it turned out we arrived there around noon. What a charming place we found – mostly a farm operation with just a few rental units, all fully solar-powered and surrounded by flowers. Such efficient use of a tiny space – not an inch wasted! And it came with a friendly dog. Lots of sheep grazing nostop! One black fellow was so big he had to kneel to reach the ground. We liked the place so much we tried to reserve for the last few days, but it was booked.
We had planned to ride back to the lake for lunch, but it turned out the town of Uithoorn was closer so we went there instead, planning to pick up Indian food at the Spice Box that looked enticing on the web… but true to form when we got to the address it was a residence with no sign of take-out! So we just went to a make-shift Aldi’s that looked like it was temporary and didn’t have much fresh food, and on to another store where we finally found some fresh salads that we took back to our lovely abode.
The next day’s ride to our favorite place in Maarsen was long along roads and full of turns but finally we got on a nice trail through the fields and the rest of the trip was lovely. Across the Breukelen Bridge (the original Brooklyn Bridge) across the huge canal that carries ships from the Rijn into Amsterdam and then the small lift btridge across the Vecht. Then along a long detour since the road was closed to construction, to reach our perfect place on the Vecht.
