Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Day 5: Cycling out of Den Bosch again (Engelen, Bokhoven, Heusden, Well, Hedel)

Cycling using Google Maps (Offline) is pretty much an enjoyable experience, especially in Netherlands. From my last experience, the route is usually more scenic if we follow the river or canal, which is very true; but at times, it is also very windy.

I was planning to cycle Northeast out of Den Bosch towards Maren, but somehow I ended up Northwest at Engelen after passing through some light industrial area. Engelen is a very scenic town: quiet, rows of trees along the road, with water canal, vast green grassland, a gold course, and some scenic small road with wild flowers and ducks (they are everywhere as long as there are water). I cycle to the nearby Engelermeer lake, which is extremely windy. I someone enter through the wrong entrance and ended up in the woods with deadend, and move on towards Bokhoven.

Bokhoven has plenty of nice grassland, and soon I saw my first herd of white sheep up close. There are big and little sheeps, and the little one have strong little legs. An old lady came by to feed the sheeps with bread, and I get to photograph them up close. It's very windy around this area, and I found a park protected from the wind to have my lunch: sandwich (self-made), strawberry and grapes, perfected with nice weather and good environment.

The next part of the journey is the most difficult one, from Bokhaven to Hesuden, with extremely strong wind blowing towards me, making cycling forward almost impossible. I have to push my bicycle half of the way, and realize no bicycle cycle the same direction as I am (am I the only idiot here?). It had a vast grassland here, with plenty of wild flowers and sheeps, along a water canal. Sadly the strong wind make the view less enjoyable. There are some "professional" cyclists with full gear just zoom past me without much problem, thus I try to cycle slowly again with lower gear.

Finally I reach a ferry point which could ferry me across the canal, which is very frequent (every 10 minutes) and seems free. I saw an inland island surrounded by water canal on the map not far from here, so I decided to check it out before I board the ferry. Soon I reach Heusden, which seems like a  pretty small touristy town, with a few windmill of its own (you don't have to go all the way to Kinderdijk to see windmill). The tourist office have a nice replica model of the town, and it's a pleasant walk around. I bump into a group of old tourists on wheelchair on a day visit of the town (unlike Asians, old people in European still like to travel around). After grabbing a bite at the local bakery, it's time to find my way home.

I went back to the ferry point, cross it while having a chat with another local man on bicycle (he loves his great cycling country). Now I am going at the same direction as the wind, which means wind-powered bicycle along the way, wheeee! Soon I came across what seems to be an inland beach called Strandbad Well, which looks like lake connected to a river, with a sandy beach. Interesting place.

I continue my journey into well, which is a really small town by the farm, and connected to the Hedel town. It's getting late, so I continue to push through towards Den Bosch. It's still pretty windy at certain sections, making cycling difficult at times; most local cyclist doesn't seems to have a problem with this.

At night, I wait for Mei Ru to came back from work and ferry her to the nearby park and the "no man land" at the south of the city. It's still quite challenging to ferry someone in the city while trying to figure out the direction, but we make it alright.

I would say cycling is perhaps one of the most enjoyable activity in Netherlands, especially adventuring into a town which you know nothing about, and hopeful of a more scenic route along the way. Every tourist to Netherland should cycle out of the city (it's safe and easy, with a map), else you never quite experience the country before.

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