If we had more time, today would have been the kind of day where we would have changed our plans and had a day relaxing by exerting no energy and staying close to the sea side. The heatwave is in full effect but we had a schedule to keep to. We’d just have to sweat!
We did however, set off fully fuelled up for the day with a great breakfast which turned out to be included in our stay. After some croissants, ham, cheeses, breads, fruit, yogurt and musli I couldn’t bring myself to try the chocolate sprinkles on bread which we’d noticed a few people eating for breakfast a few days ago. Apparently it’s a thing.
We set off into the cool of the morning feeling well rested, well fed and strong legged.
Bikes really are the vehicle of choice here - even in the most unlikely of scenarios.
We kept up the pace all morning and found ourselves on the town of Harderwijk by midday. Nice place.
It was too hot to stay in the town square, so we lunched here on ice cream and chips followed by a snooze in the park under the shade of a tree.
Then left town via more cobbled streets. For such a nation of cyclists, you’d think that they wouldn’t really be up for paving roads, but it seems as popular as tarmac from what we’ve seen.
A final stretch by the water, got us to our hotel by 3:30pm. Our earliest finish yet and we were pleased to have arrived as it’s certainly been the hottest day of riding that we’ve ever done.
The hotel is a rather fancy one which has its pros and cons. Good news, was that the rooms are air conditioned, which is a total saviour. The rest of the hotel is swealtering
and outside boardering on unbearable. We went for a very short walk down to the waters edge, but had to return to the confines of the a/c.
In the evening, we tried to get some food at the hotel restaurant, but it was really expensive and way too hot to be able to enjoy it. After a quick rummage through the panniers, we did a stock take of our supplies and managed to rustle up a pretty decent meal ourselves in the cooler air. There was a big rumble of thunder before bed, but no rain here.
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