Much better weather, the sun was even shining. We cycled through the ultimate Dutch countryside today, including some high, and therefore steep, bridges for non- motorised traffic.
Our first break was in Opmeer with it’s quaint little former town hall and an amazingly traditional bakery: I had to call to be served and then the baker came out with dough on his hands! Luckily we had our flasks with tea and coffee, as we didn’t find any cafés on our way.
Medemblik was an excellent destination for lunch, there was a lot to see a bit of life and a very Dutch cafe for toasti and fish soup.
We then followed the coast to Enkhuizen, which seems to be a very popular route for cyclists. From the top of the dam you can see the Ijsselmeer on the one side and the land on the other. We saw a lot of pumping stations today, all to keep the water levels low.
Enkhuizen is also very much worth a visit, also from the land side (last time I was here was on a school trip sailing). What impressed Phil most was all the leaning houses.
Throughout the day we learnt that we were in West-Friesland, which is a part of North-Holland. They also have their specialities here, we bought some Westfriese Krentenmik, which we are yet to try – looks like good energy food for cyclists.
