Hilly & Gravely - Day 2

Route: Ede - Hoenderloo - Wolfheze
Distance: 84 km
Elevation: 485 m
Duration: 4:29 h
Weather: very sunny but cold, 8 C

Today started very close to the center of the Netherlands!

And from there the day took a turn for the better. Cycling through forests and heathers (although without flowers… who knows when those things are flowering?)

On this log in the sun I had my second breakfast … 

… and shortly after I even found this dixi in the middle of the nature…

… not too far actually from my lunch (pannekoeken). Because in this area of the Hoge Velowe there aren’t a lot of villages nor a lot of places to eat. So Hoenderloo was the obvious place where to have lunch. And  actually I arrived there just before 13:00, so also good timing. I even had time to dial in for a few minutes to a zoom call, that my Tokyo cycling friends has organized and saw a few of them. Hoping to see them in person in the next months! 

After lunch the hills waited, but actually it wasn’t as strenuous s as I had feared. Somehow yesterday seemed harder. Although today I actually made a bit more elevation. Not hugely more though. 

I actually don’t have any photo of a hill, so you need to take the Strava data as proof. Instead I have pictures of flat landscapes:

Partially the ride came through an area where I had organized a 2 day ride last year summer. 

Today I passed the same old radio station a bit farther in the distance:

In summer there were also everywhere these beautiful but deadly flowers. Today no risk to be killed by a flower. 

Hilly & Gravely - Day 1

Route: Utrecht - Austerlitz - Rehnen- Ede
Distance: 83 km
Elevation: 397 m
Duration: 4:39 h
Weather: sun and clouds, 8 C

After a long time of only riding around Leiden (albeit quite big loops), I saw that this weekend weather was going to be really nice (well, for being February always) I decided to do a 3 day trip a bit farther away and in a landscape different from the normal polders around Leiden/Amsterdam.

I knew that behind Utrecht there is the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, a hilly area, but I actually never had been there. So goal for today! 

I didn’t start though in Leiden, but got the train to Utrecht, otherwise it would have been too far to enjoy the hilly part.

The first stop was a pyramid! In Austerlitz! 

But as you can see, it isn’t a “real” pyramid, nor OS this THE Austerlitz, which Google just told me is somewhere in the Austrian K&K empire. 

But well, the village closeby was actually named after the original Austerlitz, when it was founded by the French, so yes, there is some connection. 

Until here my way was in the forest, but mainly along normal roads, but quite soon after I entered into the Heuvelrug proper and had a very nice, winding way with very light gravel.

And yes, there was a bit of up and down. Nothing too steep, this is still the Netherlands, but not as flat as around Leiden. 

For being February there were a good number of other cyclists around. So I can understand the warning in Komoot that in summer this park can be too busy with too many cyclists at different speed to be enjoyable to the faster ones. But today that was no problem.

Actually I had put the ride into Meetup in case someone wanted to come along, but somehow a 80 km +, 400 m day in February didn’t sound attractive to other people on Meetup. Who knows why?

I for my part can’t complain, but it is also true that I feel my legs way more than after a 80 km flat ride. Probably the added weight of the overnight bag doesn’t help either.

For the night I am staying in a hotel run by the Salvation Army, which however feels (and looks) like any normal hotel, with the exception that they ban alcohol and cigarettes. 

Dinner was quite nice, definitely better than in many other Dutch places.

TdE - Day 41 Kortrijk - Gent

Route: Kortrijk - Oude Kwaremont - Paterberg - Koppenberg - Oudenaarde - Gent
Distance: 79 km 
Elevation: 296 m
Duration: 4:19 h
Weather: sunny and some clouds, more in the afternoon, 20 C

Well, so I have to admit that sometimes I am in delay with my “homework” and this is one of these posts. So instead of writing it actually on the evening after climbing the Oude Kwaremont, the Paterberg and the Koppenberg, I am writing this while sitting on the pavement close to the Saint Antoinusberg in Leuven, waiting for the men’s World Championship to pass for the second time. 

But back to this ride, which took me over some pretty iconic climbs in Flandern, all three of them cobbled climbs. 

The first, Oude Kwaremont was actually reusable for me (and my luggage), this one being at an average of 4% and a maximum of 11,6 % (on cobbles!). The other two where much steeper with an rebate of 11% or 12 % and a maximum gradient of over 20% both of them. Who invented such hills? And then paves them with cobbles???

But then I was also able to ride over the pictures of Fabio Cancellara, Tom Boonen and Johan Museeuw on the top of the Paterberg. 

I wasn’t always a cycling aficionado, when living in Spain I was definitely following football and not cycling, but since rediscovering my love for cycling (myself, not necessarily watching others doing it), I got more into cycling and since last year watched my fair share of cycling races (on TV). So it was special to ride up (or push up) MY bike on a climb I had seen several times in television already, seeing the curve at the top of Paterberg … or the other day, seeing the chapel on top of the Muur. Something like being able to play football in a proper stadium. Maybe not like playing football in the Camp Nou, that would probably bring riding up the Stelvio , but still…

The day however started in the flat along a canal out from Kortrijk to the Schelde river. 

And if I hadn’t actively chosen to see/ride those three iconic bergs, the ride from Kortrijk to Gent would have been pretty flat, just along canals and rivers. 

I also came through Oudenaarde, an other city with cycling races named after it. 

And the night I spent together with Roubaix in a apartment hotel in the center of Gent …

… and tried an other version of Kwaremont.

Hilly NL - Day 6 - A lot of castles round around the hotel

Bicycle: 32 km

Riding time: 2:08 h

Total ascent:  147 m
Avg speed: 15.1 km/h
Route: Around the hotel in North of Maastricht

Weather: Sun and clouds, no rain, but strong wind,  17 C

Finally it seems that the bike has been repaired successfully. At least I could ride 33 km without any incident. Okay, 33 km aren't that much, but then I was back before lunch, and then too lazy to get out of the hotel room again. It didn't help that each time I looked on buienradar, it seemed that in the next hour it would go to rain. And actually the only time it did NOT forecast rain, it was actually raining outside. Anyway, I at least did some riding today. 

I took it slowly, stopping at each castle along the way and taking a picture.

Well, okay, the first picture wasn't a castle strictly speaking, but it looked great with the gray sky behind it. 

The first castle... 

... inaccessible like all the following ones, but still in use. 

Castle number 2 (Hartelstein) looked more like a defensive manor, and seems to house a housing project as well as a second hand shop. 

Before coming to castle #3, I passed through the Maas landscape, which at least in this region here claims to be a nearly natural river... not like in the rest of the Netherlands, where most rivers are highly regulated. The horses (and also some angus cattle) are officially "employed" in this landscape to keep the vegetation low and avoid the growth of a small forest along the river. 

Castle #3 was inaccessible at the moment and also unoccupied, but clearly there were some reconstruction works ongoing in order to reopen it to the public. Not sure what are the precise plans for the castle though. Looks big compared to poor, young brompton. 

In front of that castle was also this not-at-all-explained "sculpture". One would think that the explanatory sign above it gave some hints why a toilet bowl would be standing around in the middle of a village... but no. It was tempting to use it... but I figured that this wasn't the scope either. 

Continuing, I came to castle number 4, which I had seen already yesterday, but for good measure I took a new picture.

Shortly after followed by castle number 5 ...

Today I managed to progress beyond this castle and back to my hotel without incidents, but not without passing an other 2 castles. Castle #6, which is a few hundred meter away from our hotel ...

... and apparently used by a long list of companies for their offices, and a bit further down the road castle number 7 which is currently being restructured, but already quite close to finalization. Probably for something like a company or meeting rooms. 

And then finally back to the hotel, castle number 8 of the day:

Hilly NLs - Day 2 - Wahlwiller to Weert

Bicycle: 36 km

Car: 32 km

Riding time: 2:09 h
Total ascent: 239 m
Avg speed: 16.9 km/h
Route: Wahlwiller - Weert
Weather: Sunny and warm, but not so hot as feared, 23 C

Today weather forecast was saying that it would get quite hot from lunch time onwards, so we decided yesterday to get up early, have breakfast before 8:00 and get going on our hiking (husband) and cycling (me) adventure of the day before it would get too hot, at least for me, to move. Actually now sitting in the large park of the hotel (admittedly in the shade of some big oaks), it isn't actually that hot. Nice and summerly, but not scorching.

In order not to do just a round ride from the hotel, I went with my husband by car in his starting point for the hike, Wahlwiller and then cycled back from there. 

I had found yesterday on Route.nl a round ride of about 50 km from there... which I shortened into about 36 km... as I obviously wanted to come back to the hotel. 

It started with a small castle a few kilometers after the start. 

Apparently Limburg is very well known for its abundance of castles. And it is known for its beer. I first came through the factory of Brand ...

... and shortly after through Gulpen. Definitely want to go back to Gulpen to try their Urhop that I normally buy directly from the producer. But today that place was way too early on my route... not yet for a stop. I rode on, with a bit of up and down through the undulating landscape. 

One steep hill was too steep for me and my brompton at about 10%... but luckily it was also very short so I pushed my bike up and then had a view over the hills and valleys around. 

I know, in any other country, these views wouldn't be breathtaking, and I have definitely already climbed higher hills. But well, still amazed at these non-flat landscapes in the Netherlands.

A little bit further along on the wayside I spotted a supermarket, did some small shopping and then had a brussel waffle with raspberries in the shadow of a very nice tree, before heading back to the hotel. 

Climbing up to the highest point of South Holland

Bicycle: 29 km 
Riding time: 1:41 h
Total ascent: 80 m
Avg speed:  17.0 km/h
Max speed:  29.9 km/h

Route: Leiden - Wassenaar - Katwijk - Leiden

Weather: Gray and humid, but no rain, 13 C

After the nice ride yesterday through the dunes between Noordwijk and Katwijk and the nice way back, I decided to ride today again in the same direction, but to try and see if there are more dunes to cycle on beyond Katwijk. And there are. 

The ride out to them was nice as yesterday, but with much less people around (weather was worse, but not bad). Already at Wassenaar I became terribly hungry. No idea why, as I had lunch and even ate at least half a kilo of cherries... So well, I continued with my empty stomach and today it was even hilly, as I was riding towards the highest point of all South Holland, the Vlaggeduin (well, okay, I realize the name of this place does not really convene the idea of hight. But I didn't choose it).

Here some pictures from one of the several hights that I climbed today:

Well, it was quite foggy, so probably the highest part is hiding somewhere. 

Before I came to the dune, there was even a forrest. Also a strange sight in the Netherlands.

On the way back I got again lost. Well, not really lost, but I did not follow the road that I actually wanted to follow. Somehow at km 18 I convinced myself that continuing straight must be the wrong direction, so I turned left... and thus I didn't make it to N206. Later on, probably around km 20 I was riding through an area that I recognized from yesterday (and some previous trips to Katwijk) and I thought it would be easy now to find the main street to Leiden... but I failed again. BUT this time (similarly to yesterday) this was actually a nice error. Not so far as yesterday, but I discovered a cycling route through Katwijk that leads one quite close to Leiden without needing to follow N206, which is a busy street (plus its dedicated cycling lane), but essentially one is cycling along side a lot of cars (at least that is what I remember from the one time, many months ago that I actually found it). But that route a little bit to the North of N206 is much nicer.