We drove from The Ardennes directly across Belgium to get to The Netherlands, and our first stop for two nights in Breda.
Breda is a pretty little town, built on canals (no surprise there!). We cycled in from our campsite. When we arrived, the church bells were ringing. It wasn’t your usual church peals, but the latest Robbie Williams track.
The “new” church
It turns out that the Vuelta a España was due to come through Breda at the weekend – after we would leave.
Poor timing by photographer on catching the fountains
The traditional canal shot
Next we moved on to Delft. One of Delft’s claims to fame is being the birthplace of Microbiology. Another is its fine, blue pottery – more on that later.
The old church reminds you of the leaning tower of Pisa. It leans about 2m from the vertical.
The lean isn’t too obvious here
You can see it here
The bar’s private taxi home when you’ve had too much Heineken?
Customary bike and canal shot
Michelle hunted down a famous coffee and cake café.
And Ronnie had a beer.
The bar’s DJ was in a phone booth opposite
We had a day cycle trip along the wonderful cycle paths through Midden Delfland to Maasluis. It’s named by being on the river Maas (Meuse in French). So we were just quite a bit further down-river from Charleville-Mézières.
We wouldn’t be in The Netherlands without windmills
The next day we took a train to Rotterdam. Unfortunately much of it was destroyed during the war.
One very impressive modern building is the “Markthal” (Market Hall). It’s very artistic. There are many artisan food stalls inside.
Ronnie revisited Central station which he cycled past a couple of months earlier on his trip from Scotland to Schengen.
For our last day before we caught the ferry back to the UK, Michelle wanted to visit the beach. So we drove to Wassenaar near The Hague.
We took the bikes in the back of the car so we could take a ride along the cycle path through the dunes. Somehow Michelle managed to fall off her bike. She had a bad cut on her head which was bleeding, and lots of cuts and grazes everywhere. Some people, including a doctor, kindly stopped to help. The doctor advised which hospital to go to.
A bad cut needed to be glued
Waiting for X-rays and CT-scan
Waiting for results
Michelle had multiple fractures in her right hand, a fractured big toe socket, and a hairline fracture of her sinus.
So Michelle got some blue pottery from Delft as a souvenir.
The Dutch hospital treatment was excellent. Looking on the bright side. There was no permanent damage. Also it happened on our last day on the continent rather than the first.
We caught the ferry the next day and drove straight home.
