Day 18: Haarlem to Volendam

It’s hard to know when to stop to enjoy things, and when to press around the next bend. We spent last night in Haarlem, and somewhere between the excellent beers, the lovely dinner companions, and the ‘gezellig’ coffee house, I lost interest in whatever comes next. I’ve read worse stories, after all: couple sets out on long cycle trip but finds love in a Dutch town and settles down to a life of upright bicycles and good cheese.

But the well-paved, well-signed routes here do call. Philipp pointed out about missing some museums or tours that our trip is different than Anne and Reece’s – for us, getting access to bits of countryside or non-tourist sections is as hard as it was for Anne and Reece to get to the Tower of London. So just as they binged on museums, I’d like to do as much cycle touring as possible.

Today it was the calls of ferries that got me out of the bakery. I like the logic of it – when the aquatic traffic is more frequent or valuable than the terrestrial, the terrestrial must wait for the ferry. We had two such crossings as we avoided hectic-ness of Amsterdam and headed north from Haarlem toward Volendam, Anne and Reece’s day-trip excursion while in Amsterdam.

Today I heard the sound of tires effortlessly whizzing at 25kph on smooth asphalt. I tasted a perfect picnic lunch. I felt warm sand and frigid water in an end-of-day beach swim. And I marveled at a port of beautiful brick houses at sunset and ate a plate of locally-smoked salmon (though likely should have ventured for eels).

I don’t like Volendam as much as I like Haarlem. We’re due for a rest day soon and I hope it’s in a town like Haarlem. But the point will be to rest so we can get back out on the bikes and enjoy whatever comes along.