Day 4

Day 4
Bergen aan Zee - Den Oever 45.29 miles
Staying in Pension Waddenzee - Quite good.

Strong N.W. Wind. Hard work but still an enjoyable ride. Left at 9.30 and arrived at 5 -as we had predicted. Stopped at Oudesluis for lunch, cup of tea in De Haukes, which was once the most important fishing harbour of the area before the closing of the Zuiderzee. We made a bit of a detour as I wanted to visit 'Het Zwanenmeer' near Callantsoog. There is a colony of Spoonbills and on a previous visit in the area I could hear them, but never saw one. Unfortunately the same today. We were told by the Warden, we may have better luck in Den Oever, the place we are staying. I did take a picture there of a rare orchid. I saw a photographer laying on his stomach to capture those and I was very impressed with that......so I did the same! The area we cycled in the morning was through the Schoorlse Dunes. It isn't just dunes but also vast areas of plantation with pine trees - lots of woods for miles. These heavily planted areas are to secure the coast from erosion. The same we have seen in Denmark.
The afternoon was spent cycling through polder land where the wind really plagued us. The most famous of the polders is of course The Wieringen with Hippolytushoef in its centre as a very quaint small village. Den Oever is on the western side of the famous (infamous, but that is another story) Afsluitdijk. We will take that dike tomorrow, hope the wind dies down! We are now off for a Chinese meal.


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