From Nijmegen to Heerenveen, with stops in Zwolle and Steenwijk

We are leaving Nijmegen today by train and heading north to start our bike trip. We said good bye to Kees and Dineke and thanked them for an excellent stay. They even helped us get low cost train tickets. Thank you! Norm got his New York Times, a coffee and waited for the train.

 

 Crossed the Waal one more time.

 There are excellent train in The Netherlands. They run on time, are clean and not crowded. And you can drink a beer with your lunch! Part of our trip was interrupted with construction and we had to take a 20 minute bus ride to reach Heerenveen. Yellow Bunny enjoying the ride too.

 

Once we were dropped of at the train station we had to make our way to our hotel, about a 50 minute walk. Off we went through the town. It was a bit hot but great walking especially down the streets without cars and full of people and shops.

 

We checked in, had a shower and decided to try out the bikes. I assumed a short ride into town again. Instead we has a Bonus Bike ride of over 20 kms. Friesland is out in the country. We saw birds, cows, horses, goats, chickens, a rooster, frogs, sheep, cats and dogs. Along with the animals came strong country smells.

 

There are 5 eggs in the nest and the male just brought more nest building material. We think this is a coot.

 

The bikes look brand new and are great to ride. Sometimes Norm manages to get even off the off road paths.

 

More animals. So cute.

 

A man with a hat on a bike in the woods. It doesn't get much better. 

 

 Getting lost but finding you are on the right path all along is perfect. 

 You can tell we are in The Netherlands when......

 This place actually repairs windmills since 1901. 

And the houses are so perfect. It must be a Dutch thing. 

 This one has at least two chimneys and we saw one house with four!

Finally we biked back into Heerenveen very hungry. Pizza, olives, Amstel Radler, Pepsi and wine hit the spot.

 

 Real pizza doesn't come cut into pieces. And the Dutch use a knife and fork. I did it the Canadian way - cut it up and used my fingers.