Netherlands
Summer 2021
With the corona restrictions, travelling outside Europe is still not so easy, so our holiday destination this year was the Netherlands.
We found a small holiday flat in Egmond aan Zee at very short notice. It was only 5 minutes from the sea. So we were able to go for a quick walk to the beach in the morning and evening. Coincidentally, there was also a kite school in Egmond. Marco clearly couldn’t go to the North Sea without all his kite equipment. Hopefully there will be the right wind so that Marco can also kite. There was enough wind to play with the small kite on the first evening.
We went on a day trip to Alkmaar. In true Dutch style, we travelled to the nearby city on rental bikes. On the way there, we saw our first windmill. The bikes made it easy for us to stop and take photos. Alkmaar is a tranquil little town. We took a leisurely stroll through the alleyways, past the canals and settled down in a café.
Utrecht & Kinderdijk
Another day trip was to Utrecht. It is a pretty little town with its canals and brick houses. Here, too, we wandered through the streets and looked in the many small shops. It was much more touristy than Alkmaar, but as soon as you leave the main streets it is immediately much quieter.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t get tickets to climb the church tower. The view of the alleyways and canals from the top would certainly have been better.
Later in the afternoon, we travelled on to Kinderdijk, near Rotterdam. There are 19 windmills or wind pumps there, which are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They were built in the 18th century to pump out the water to make the soil usable for agriculture.
Nowadays, pumps have taken over the work of the mills. Some of the mills can be visited from the inside, but some are also privately owned and residential buildings.
Before we started our tour, we enjoyed a coffee and a delicious apple turnover on a small terrace by the water. As we arrived so late, the crowds of tourists had already left and we were able to walk around at our leisure.
We bought new shoes so that we wouldn’t stand out as tourists in the Netherlands.
Texel
We had to get up early to catch one of the first ferries in Den Helder to Texel. We spent a day on the Frisian island. We wanted to cycle around the whole island on hire bikes. We started along the south-east coast to the northernmost point of the island. We cycled partly along the dyke, as always with a headwind. The dyke sheep lay relaxed in the sun and ate the fresh grass. Marco saw the Wadden Sea for the first time. Of course we stopped and went for a little walk barefoot on the Wadden Sea. As on the German North Sea coast, you can discover lots of piles of lugworms here.
At the northernmost point, we took another short break and photographed the lighthouse. Halfway back, we realised that the bike hire shop was about to close. We were therefore unable to see the small centre of Texel and cycled back across the island. We reached the bike hire shop shortly before closing time and were able to return our bikes. On the crossing to the mainland, we spotted a seal in the sea. To round off the day, we had a delicious ice cream in Den Helder before travelling back to Egmond.
Wind
As the wind was too weak on our first days to go out on the water with the kite, Freddy was allowed to practise on land with the big kite. Marco enthusiastically sent the following message to his kite friends: I attached Freddy to a kite.
Finally there was enough wind from the right direction and Marco was able to kite in the North Sea.
