Jos' Boat Trip Oct 8 2025

Jos' Boat Trip

Schiphol Airport

October 08, 2025

This morning was our last chance for another ride and neither Jos or I were going to miss it.  I had laid out a route the night before which took us on a few paths we had ridden before.  It was  a great morning for a ride with very little wind and lots of blue sky.   

We headed out of the harbour and up the dyke road to the north towards Ouddorp.  Once we got to the island to the north we turned onto this tree lined path.  It was so nice rolling down the path.  However autumn is certainly upon us as there were lots of leaves on the ground.  In the few short days I have been here the trees have gone from totally green to yellow.  

As we followed the path along the coast we came to the Ouddorp spiral tower where we were a couple of days before.  From there we headed into Ouddorp where I hit an ATM so that I could pay Jos for the bike he had rented on my behalf.  I must say it was a excellent Trek bike with an aluminum frame bike with disc brakes and good wheels.  It was a joy to ride and much better than I had expected.  

I must also thank Jos for organizing such an excellent trip.  I was treated like a king.  Jos picked me up at the airport, took me to different harbours on his yacht, cooked great meals almost every night, fed me apple pie and ice cream, and drove me to the train so I could get to the airport.  WOW!!

Jos and I had a bunch of really rood rides and while we didn't break any speed records, we had a lot of fun.  I am not sure what the final grand total mileage was but the other day it was over 400 kms and we did another 30 km today.  

I started out calling this Jos' Boat Tour,  but in hindsight maybe I should have called it Tour de Klompen,  Klompen is the Dutch word for wooden shoes, and it is such a gives you such a great visual impression of clomping around.   

Up early and on the plane home.

Terry  

   

 

Jos' Bout Trip Oct 7 2025

 Jos' Boat Trip

Port Zelande

October 07, 2025

The weather looked pretty good this morning with only an 18 gusting to 28 kms/hr wind out of the SW.  So we planned an 88.5 kms ride down to Middleburg via the historic town of Veere.  We were up early and on the road by 9:45.  Ok not so early by we needed to be sure of the weather.  

The ride down to Veere was along the main dyke which keeps the sea back.  So you are up high on the dyke and totally exposed to the wind.  It was a real struggle straight into the wind for the 35 kms down to Veere.  Veere is historic town with most of the buildings showing signs in the early 1500's.  I did take a picture of one of the newer buildings which showed a sign of 1570.   Even though it was all into the wind we still made pretty good time so we stopped for a full on lunch in one of many restaurants.  Lunch was three fried eggs on a layer of ham on top of a couple of slices of rye bread. 

When we had gone into the restaurant it was pretty nice, when we came out the mist had set in and the temperature had dropped 5 C.  The mist/fog was really cold and I was sure that we were going to get rained on.    A couple of turns out of Veere and we were on some of the smoothest concrete I have ever ridden on.  As a result it didn't take long to make it down to Middleburg.  

We cruised through Middleburg and while it is really a pretty historic city with some great architecture I only took one picture of a fountain with pick water which showed up as white in the  picture.  It was just too cold and damp.

On the way back Jos asked if I wanted apple pie for supper.  Well yes, who doesn't want apple pie,  Unfortunately this lead to an 8 kms detour to find the apple pie.  So when we got back to the boat we were at 96 kms.  So we rode down the street for an extra 4 kms so we could log a 100 kms ride.  

Back on the boat we celebrated with chocolate milk.  

While the last 65 kms was cold and amp we had a great ride and one we will brag about.

Terry 

Jos' Boat Trip Oct 6 2025

 Jos' Boat Trip 

Port Zelande

October 06, 2025

Today the winds had died down quite a bit and were only blowing at 28 kms/hr with gusts to 45 kms/hr.  I friend of mine once said you do know why the Dutch have windmills.  It is true there is a fair amount of wind here, although Jos assures me that this is nothing compared to Wellington NZ.  

The forecast was for morning rain so we were in no hurray to jump on the bikes and make tracks.  Jos had some work to complete so I wandered over to the local mall and picked up apple turnovers and a couple of croissants. They are so good, as they are baked fresh there every day.  

I had laid out a 40 kms ride north along the dyke and around the NE side of the island to the north of us, with a loop at the north end though the  town of Stellendam, and a return ride along the south side of the island. The wind was coming out of the south west so the outward bound ride was just great sailing along with a very fresh tail wind.  It took us along the north coast of the island pass the beaches. Even though ir was cold and blustery people were out flying kites.  We climbed a look out tower with a spiral stair.  The views were somewhat hampered by the low hanging clouds and mist.  However on a clear day I am sure that you could see Newfoundland (or at least Greenland) in the distance.  

The return ride was kind of a different story as it was almost straight into the wind across some fields and then down the top of this dyke.  There wasn't any shelter from the wind and about 10 kms/hr was about all you could do.  Perseverance got us home.  

It was great getting out on the bikes for a ride.   The sun came out and the chocolate milk tasted great. 

 

Weather looks even better tomorrow so I am hoping we can get a big ride in. 

Terru 

 

 

Jos' Boat Trip October 5, 2025

 Jos' Boat Trip 

Rotterdam

October 05, 2025

This morning the wind was still howling in at 70-85 kms and there were periods of intermittent rain showers,  in short another harbour day.  This is just fine as it gives me an opportunity to seeing things beyond my life behind bars (handle bars that is).   Jos suggested that we drive up Rotterdam and walk around the sights.  

As parking anywhere close to the city centre is impossible we drove to the outskirts and took the train into central Rotterdam.  The train deposited us right downtown and we walked over an watched this canal which has a wave generator in it and people were surfing.  From there we wandered around to the Markthal which is a huge horseshoe shaped building.  On the main floor is a market which a a hundred different food vendors and upstairs is all apartments.  We stopped and enjoyed a chicken saty for lunch and watched the crowds of people.  After lunch we wandered through the museum sector and saw a bunch of the famous architecture of the city.  The Depot is a huge cup shaped building with mirrors on the outside and trees on the top.  It was pretty interesting as you could pick your self out in the reflections.  From there we wandered over the maritime museum and walked though the harbour section of the museum.  They had hundreds of interesting displays along the wharf.   Trains which shuttled cargo to steam cranes and a lot of ferries and cargo barges.  It was getting late in the afternoon and we didn't have time to go into the museum as that would be at least a 5 hour thing.  

We got back on the train and were whisked back to the van.  On the way home we stopped and picked up a few things for supper.  

It looks like the wind storm is somewhat abated so I think the plan is to go for a little ride tomorrow. 

There is a lot to see and we only scratched the surface but it was a fun day.

Terry 

Jos' Boat Trip October 4 2025

 Jos; Boat Trip

Port Zelande

October 04, 2025

Atlantic storm Amie is hitting the UK and the Netherlands this weekend.  As a result we are experiencing winds of 70 km/hr and gusting to 85 kms/hr.  In the harbour where we are staying there is an incredible calliope as the wind whistles through  the rigging of all the boats.  

All the whistling and banging didn't stop us from sleeping in.  However we did get rolling and completed a few chores like cleaning the boat and walking over to the grocery store to pick up a few supplies. Included in the supplies was a very nice rye loaf and the lunch sandwiches were great.

After lunch we headed over to a local train museum.  It is the heritage museum which houses the RTM line which started in 1878 running horse drawn trams in Rotterdam.  It quickly expanded to the other islands of the Zeland province, running trams, and ferries.  As the operation expanded steam trains and steam ferries were added.  Later on buses replace trams and diesel replaced steam.  However the 1953 flood destroyed much of RTM's infrastructure.  When the new dykes were built roads and highways replaced the tram lines.  RTM struggled on with buses but the end was near and 1966 was the end of the line.  Jos tried out for a RTM delivery position with one of their delivery bikes, but unfortunately there was no electric motor. 

From the museum we headed off to the huge tower which is built on one of the dykes as a marine life observation tower.   It was a little to misty to see much, but the views were pretty impressive never the less.  Even though we were inside the tower the wind was enough to knock you off your feet.  

It is so cozy on the boat watching the rain pelt down and listening to the wind.  

Terry 

 

Jos' Boat Trip October 03 2025

 Jos's Boat Trip 

Port Zelande

October 03, 2025

It was rainy, cold, and windy this morning so we were having a day off.  Sleeping in was the order of the day.  It was close to 9:00 am before we were up and having breakfast.  No big bike rides to day.

I wandered over to a near by mall and picked up a couple of pastries for a late morning coffee.  It was quite a place as the inside was covered in large over grown plants.  Inside there was a large pool which a number of very large prehistoric fish circling around and a pile of turtles under a heat lamp.  Allegedly there are also flamingos stalking around between the plants but I didn't see any.

Back at the boat Jos had arranged borrow a van and we drove over to the historic town of Goes.  Most of the canals into the city center were constructed in 1200 and most of the houses around the central harbour have dates on them from around 1550.  It was pretty interesting place.  There was a shop which just sold cheese.  There were hundreds of huge wheels of every description of cheese.  We wandered into the main cathedral which had been converted to a Protestant church  from a Catholic cathedral so most of the over the top ornate decorations had been stripped out. 

As today is Earnie's birthday Jos and I figured we should go out on the town to celebrate.  Jos found a very nice restaurant on line and we drove over.  Luckily we were able to get a table as we didn't have reservations.  We both selected the tomato fish stew with a bread plate.  It was absolutely fabulous. 

Tomorrow looks like an even stormier day so we are probably going to just lay low.  

Even though we didn't get a ride into today it was still a remarkable day. 

Terry 

   

Jos' Boat Trip Oct 2 2025

 Jos' Boat Trip 

Port Zelande

October 2, 2025

This morning we set sail from our cozy little harbour for another little harbour on the other end of the island.  It was called Scharendijke.  From Scharendijke we got on our bikes and rode south to the other side of the island. 

As we set off on our bikes it suddenly turned nasty with a biting wind and a rain squall.  I had not  worn a coat as it was pretty nice.  So we turned back and I put my coat on.  Naturally the act of putting your rain coat on caused the rain to stop, but that was ok.   We cruised through several small villages, most of which seemed to be oriented towards the summer tourist trade.

At about the 20 kms mark we came to the long dyke which separates the ocean from the inland water ways. he inland water ways, water level is controlled through a long set of hydraulically operated gates Each gate is probably 60 feet in length and there are an awful lot of them.   At the end of the water level gates is a large lock which allows boats to enter the ocean from the inland water ways.  

The wind was really howling straight into our face and as we were out on the dyke there was no protection from the wind.  I was certainly glad to reach the far end.  There was a little café which catered to a small harbor and boats using the lock.  The fish and chips were excellent. 

The trip back with the wind made us feel like we should be riding in the tour.  The 22.5 kms back took no time at all and I was kind of sorry the ride was over.   Jos had some phone calls to make so I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon snoozing on the deck in the sun. 

There is a big storm coming in so we set sail back to Port Zelande where we started.   Luckily, Jos' favourite spot was open and Jos cruised right in.  Actually he backed the boat in.  The thrusters are just magic.  Jos has head phones so he could tell me exactly what to to and I could tell him how far off the pier he was.  They also make us look really pro.

Today's 45 kms ride and sailing trips were great.

Terry 

Jos' Boat Trip Oct 1 2025

 Jos' Boat Trip 

Bommenede Harbor

October 1, 2025

This morning it was really foggy.  You could only see about 30-40 feet.  It really wasn't save to be out on the bike as you could easily be hit by another bike.  Jos had some business to conduct so it worked out fine.  I was in no hurray to get out there in the fog.  It didn't clear off 12:30.  So we didn't get on the road until close to 1:00 pm.

We had planned a 65 kms ride but with such a late start we decided to ride over to Zeirikzee which was only 17 kms off.  This was about an hour's ride and we cruised over there for lunch.  We stopped at a very nice place where we had burgers.  They were absolutely huge.  The burger was easily 7 inches in diameter and loaded with cheese, bacon, and tomatoes. 

After lunch Jos headed off to get a hair cut and I opted to go to a little museum which as right around the corner.  It was a very interesting place.  They restored different types of ships in the museum.  Right now they were working a coastal piolet's boat and a larger sailing ship.  In the harbour out side they had a ferry and a couple of other sailing ships which they had completed.  

It was a beautiful afternoon and I really enjoyed the museum and sitting in the sun waiting for Jos to get back from his hair cut.

The ride back to the boat was a very easy ride but I forgot to turn my Garmin on so I didn't an accurate distance.

Another great day in the bicycle capital of the world.

Terry 

 

Jos' Boat Trip Sepember 30 2025

 Jos' Boat Trip 2025

Bommenede Harbor

September30, 2025

We overnighted in this little harbour which is absolutely stunning.  Unlike a lot of the harbours we have seen which have hundreds if not thousands of boats this harbour has only four boats in it.  This harbour is a national park so you are only allowed to stay a few days and there are no services save for a garbage bin and a porta potty.  

This morning we had planned an 84 kms ride so we were up early and got underway about 9:00 am.  This was going to be the longest ride I had done since back in early May when we on Rockies IV down in Cranbrook.   I was a little apprehensive as the forecast was calling for rain and 20 kms wind.  In fact we had decided to reverse the course direct so as to better manage the increasing afternoon wind. The sky was pretty dark and foreboding but Jos said it would only be a little sprinkling.  OK.  

At about the 16 kms mark we were riding along the top of this dyke and there were quite a few puddles so it had rained quite hard not long ago.  However the sky was clearing and things were really looking better.  Wind was not blowing and was totally still.  Jos posed by a sign warning of Wildrooster. Not sure that motorists need to be warned of wildroosters but there it was.  

The sun peaking through the clouds and there were a lot of really nice views across the polder lands and from the tops of the dykes.  

We had hoped to see some pink flamingos in this one nesting site but no luck.   A few ducks and a bunch of Canadian geese seem to have moved in.  

For lunch we stopped and had fish and chips which were excellent.  The fish was cut into small bite sized pieces and lightly battered.  It was great.

After lunch we had only 20 kms to go but the wind had come up and so we had a headwind for the last 20 kms.  I was glad that it was only 20 kms as I was feeling pretty tired.   When we got in the harbour was filled with jelly fish.  

So we made our 84 kms and never got rained on and had only a minimal amount of wind.  What a great day.  

Terry