July 25: From Winterswijk to the Ferry via Amsterdam
Winterswijk
It is almost a tradition already, the overnight stay at the B.s in Winterswijk on my / our ways to Amsterdam. I arrived in the late afternoon and got a tour through their large estate, which has progressed a lot since my last visit. The forest is cleaned up, new species planted and the place looks like a biodiversity hotspot now. A new addition are several bee hives. We had a great time talking about old times and new developments. Friends page for details.
Winterswijk to Amsterdam
I took this route again, three times on the BMW. The day started nice with an outdoor breakfast and the S&B biodiversity heaven at partly sunny sky. The drive is pleasant, not much traffic, windy roads and good temperature. The wind also stopped.
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Socializing, resupplying and repairs
Kata hosted us in her new apartment and showed us her favorite Amsterdam places including the Erasmus Park, the Rembrandt Park and Bar Brothers.
Bandits?
When checking on the bike in the evening I found the right back mirror lying on the seat. Somebody must have broken it off.
The next morning I go to the hardware store and buy some glue and duct tape (Quote from Lost: “I don’t believe in much, but I do believe in duct tape”).
Hadestown
Kata got us tickets for Hadestown on Thursday evening.
.. and had to go for some beers afterwards to get over the sad ending…
Not the ideal weather
R. Sends a message that it would be wise to bring straps to tie down the bikes in the Ferry. They are expecting gusts up to 7 Bft tomorrow. Another trip to the hardware shop tomorrow.
Off to Scotland, with some delay
Quite happy that no further vandalism had happened I packed the rubber cow, said good bye and drove the 20 km to the Ferry Port in Amsterdam to meet up with R. And catch the overnight ferry to Newcastle. It was supposed to be a short trip but there was a lot of traffic. R. reported later that he almost did not make it to the Ferry in time despite having added two hours slack time because of very heavy traffic in the South of Amsterdam around the airport. In the ferry there were also announcements about a 30 minute delay because of the NATO summit. Probably many travelers had similar problems.
Expecting rough weather, as announced by some online weather forecasts, we tied down our bikes in the ferry before going to the bar for some beers, dinner and then proceeding to our cabin. Seventy percent of the crew of the ferry were Filipino.
