The Lovely Vecht

Submitted by mag on Sat, 06/08/2019 – 11:45

We spent three days cycling around the lovely Vecht River…  the lovely river with the unlovely name – the name sounds like a throat clearing but beautiful to look at.  We stayed at the Logement on the Vecht… I had seen this last summer as we pedaled by but they they were full so I reserved well in advance. It’s a gorgeous old hotel with 7 rooms – each one with its own character.   From there we could explore north and south along the river between Bruekelen (the “original Brooklyn Bridge”) and south to the Zuylen castle.  We spent a day cycling over the kasteel de Haar and touring the “Fairy Tale Castle” there…  actually reconstructed from a ruin in the late 19th century by Baron Van Zuylen and his wife Hélène de Rothschild  who luckily had the fabulous quantities of cash required to restore the castle well beyond its former glory. For them it was just a party house and a way to impress their friends and assoicates… they brought their entourage and a host of friends and celebrities  along for 2 weeks every September.  It even had a maze (labyrinth) that was really difficult to solve!

We had wine in the “board room” before an excellent thai dinner in Bruekelen.  

It was really windy on Friday.  On Saturday,early in the morning about 1 AM the wind started howling out of the SW – about 27 miles an hour.  This is the day Frank and Michael had to head back to Amsterdam to fly home – luckily they were headed north.