Day 3 biking

Today we biked 60 km from Harlingen to Leeuwarden. Counting the first day of 50 and the second of at least 60, we have biked 170 kms with one more day to go. It has been an excellent adventure, perfect weather although windy, great bikes, nice accommodations and wonderful Dutch hospitality and really flat pathways! We again had a generous breakfast this morning which provided us with lunches. 

Off we headed with the wind mostly behind us! What a treat.

 We biked along old dikes and past tulips fields with just enough tulips left for a picture.

Every where we found sheep. Norm refers to them as trail stewards. Could be?

Biking today was in the country. Massive farms, large fields for planting and a few unusual siteings.

These are so perfect.

Where do you get your eggs in the country? At a Dutch stand.

Time for tea and coffee. It wasn't easy to find a place that was open or even a cafe. Country life is very quiet

One of the unusual sites was a woman we saw walking her (?) 9 dogs. I didn't want to be too rude and get up close but what was interesting was as she got to the end of the walk, she then placed each dog in to the carriage she was pushing. How creative!

When ever we could we went on the dikes. You could see all the way to the islands of Terschelling and Texel. And yes it is windy there.

Again up on a dike was a tribute to the engineers that spent at least 20 years designing and supervising the building of the dike that keeps out the North Sea. It is said that God created the earth, the Dutch created The Netherlands. 

Notice the green roof? The Dutch are way ahead with being energy self sufficient. There are windmills everywhere and solar panels on most barns we saw. Speaking of being Dutch, Norm wanted to visit this area, Friesland, since this is where his opa, grandfather came from. Doesn't get much more Dutch than this......

Almost to our destination for the night. The last 8 kms were along a river, winding, windy but flat. If it is too much for you , you can always take a bike ferry across the water, only 80 cents.

Our hotel tonight is a former royal palace, very classy. We'll see what breakfast is like in the morning.