TdE Day 3 Diepenbeek - Sippenaeken

Route: Diepenbeek - Tongeren - Visé - Sippenaeken 

Distance: 73 km
Elevation: 676 m
Duration: 4:39 h 
Average speed: 15.7 km/h

Weather: grey and quite cold and some rain, specially at the end, 19C

Today was the first rainy day. While I initially welcomed the cooler temperatures, the rain at about 19C wasn’t so welcome. But you don’t get to choose. 

Just before Tongeren by the museum, today closed, about the Roman history of the region, I had my second breakfast. An excellent plum cake: 

Then I cycled into the city with an old cathedral and even older (Roman?) city walls to which these slightly newer buildings are attached.

Shortly after the city I entered the Limburg Fietsparadijs! Which would have been more paradisiac without the rain. Which admittedly for the most part waited out in a bus stop with two Dutch men who were hiking around Limburg. 

Anyway the rain didn’t last that long. After 33 km I had to climb the first serious (but short) climb of this tour. With a small pause in the middle I managed. 

However on the top I urgently needed a “tree”, which wasn’t a problem except that unwillingly I also some bowel movement, but no toilet paper. Well recently rained on potato leaves make for a reasonable replacement. 

I thought of having lunch at Haccourt, but shortly before I run across a public BBQ place with a public toilet. So I had one of my breads there. But it was a bit too cold to linger long time, so I bode farewell to two Belgian cyclist riding to the Netherlands and planning on camping. Thinking back now, I am really convinced that camping must be a torture or BDSM practice. In the cold rain today it must be simply miserable. 

As I only had eaten one bread and not stopped for any other sustenance at about 53 km I was quite hungry and decided that a stop to eat an other bread was needed. At that moment I saw a information board a bit further in the road and thought that maybe there might be a bench. There wasn’t, but the board said that there would be a proper information about the Ardenne bleu at 500 m, so I continued in the hope that there might be a bench. And I was rewarded. Not only by a bench but by a Cistercian abbey.

No longer in use as an abbey, but still important use ongoing (also don’t forget the cheese).

I took a break and a croque monsieur which gave me back some energy. BTW, the church itself was quite new and lacked any interest (for me), but there was a nice garden behind:

5 km later at Aubel I hit an old train line now transformed in cycle way. It was surprisingly easy to uphill and the downhill. Would it not have been for the rain that set in for good at about 10 km to go from my accommodation tonight it would have been a very nice ride.

Anyway, at my hotel that overlooks a golf course (where people were continuing with their play in the rain), I had a looooong and very hoooot shower, a hot tea and now for dinner a hot onion soup. Now I feel throughly warmed. Inside out. Ready for more tomorrow, after a long night rest. Now it’s “only” 22:00, but I totally feel ready for bed!

"A bit of a challenging" ride to Brielle

Bicycle: 70 km 
Riding time: 3:47 h
Total ascent: 145 m
Avg speed:  17.7 km/h
Max speed:  36 km/h

Route: Leiden - Noordwijk - Katwijk - getting lost near Wassenaar and back to Leiden

Weather: Sunny and nice again, 16 C

I signed up on Meet-up for several cycling groups. Today my second appointment (after last Saturday mini-meet-up to Uithoorn) was with a bigger group, "threatening" with a "bit of a challenging" ride from Rotterdam to Brielle.

We were a group of 9, most actually on racing bikes and thus quite intimidating when I first met them all at a station in Rotterdam. But also some others on touring bicycles.

The organizer had planned out a very nice path out to Brielle, and old city out in the delta in front of Rotterdam. Getting there we had to take two different ferries and cycle for kilometers and kilometers through nice Dutch landscape.  One of the ferries was a "do-it-yourself" ferry on which we had a lot of fun. There wasn't a lot of time to take pictures, as we were riding on. But a lot of time to chat to the other riders.

We had lunch in Brielle on a central place and then rode around the outside of the old fortification and then back towards Rotterdam on a different path.

Back at home there is unfortunately no onsen waiting for me. So the bath tub will need do.

Mini Meet-up team ride from Amsterdam to Uithoorn... and home to Leiden

Bicycle: 55 km 
Riding time: 3:31 h
Total ascent: 63 m
Avg speed: 15.3 km/h
Max speed: 25.6 km/h

Route: Amsterdam RAI - Uithoorn - Leiden

Weather: Sunny and getting warmer and warmer, 24 C

About a week ago I saw in meet-up a team event for today, a ride from Amsterdam to Uithoorn following the Amstel river. I signed up, but the meeting organizer never informed us about the meeting location. So finally yesterday afternoon I proposed to meet at Amsterdam RAI, a convenient place quite close to Amstel river. Finally we were only 2, others already excused themselves yesterday, the organizer was somewhere else, actually not too far, but she apparently never checked her messages though even we waited for her a bit longer, she never came... So well, we were only two, but set out to Uithoorn. 

The ride along the river Amstel was quite nice, with villages full of splendid looking houses facing the river:

Also a lot of other cyclists took the opportunity for a day out. There are essentially two types of cyclists.

1) the racers

2) the tourists

The racers, well race. Are equipped apparently well (not that I really understand anything about it), but they all seem to be serious about racing and not so much interested at all in their surroundings.

While the tourists, well they are there to have a nice day. Not necessarily to do actually tourism, but to just travel at a leisurely pace along the river. 

The surprising thing about this ride was Uithoorn itself. I had no idea about the town, but after all the nice towns along the river and by the fact that this was our proposed end destination, I expected a small, nice Dutch city. I could not have been much wronger. The city of Uithoorn is small, but anything but beautiful. Not only is there a big chemical plant along the river at the entrance to the village, but also quite a lot of abandoned office buildings, houses missing in the city centre and a very ugly shopping district. Really surprising. No idea why the meeting organizer (who finally didn't even make it to the appointment) decided on this town as the final destination. Maybe simply by distance. And one has to admit that the ride along the river was definitely nice. We had something to eat (well, in the line of the rest of Uithoorn, not very good) on the river bank and then parted. My co-rider returned slowly to Amsterdam, while I continued onwards back to Leiden.

I had planned out a tour on Garmin for my return. Initially following the river and then at some point over to Alphen and back home.

Cycling along there were some very narrow cycling lanes, half occupied by sheep looking puzzled at all these frequent cyclists. Probably asking themselves why there is such a change in cyclists from day to day and what those people do on those days, they do not come to their pasture.

It got hotter and hotter, so at some point I stopped at a picnic table on a playground with marvellous shadow to cool a bit down. And then continued my way down to the river.

The ride was quite nice until getting into Alphen. I had planned out the ride on Garmin, but not with a lot of attention to the details. So I ended up cycling through what must be the less appealing neighbourhoods of Alphen. Even came by 2 (!) jails. And it continued to get hotter and hotter and I had packed only one bottle of water.

Luckily enough finally at Koudekerk I found a nice garden restaurant, where I had something to drink an icecream (not terribly nice) and was able to use the restroom and fill up my water bottle again. After some break there I restarted my final kilometers back to Leiden.

So far in my few rides in direction Alphen I have not yet really found a nice place. One day I really need to ride through Alphen proper to see if the ENTIRE city is so dull as the parts I have seen so far.

But the area behind and in the greater surroundings of Alphen is really nice. To be explored in further trips.