© E. Heijn 2012  Life is like riding a bicycle;to keep youre balance you have to keep moving Albert Einstein

Heijn’s Bicycle Site Next Back Foto's Route

Thursday, August 13

This morning the alarm went off as usual. Because of the great distances you have to walk on the Staatsbosbeheer site, everything took more time than usual. The toilet building was about 200 meters from our camping spot.

Still, we managed to leave the site around 9:00 am.

The first part of the route was on narrow, semi-paved cycle paths. Eventually we ended up on the LF9 again. Via the Nijkerker Bridge we arrived at the 'old land'. We drove over the old Zuiderzeedijk to Bunschoten-Spakenburg. On the way I sang the chorus of the Zuiderzee ballad.

At the harbor we got into conversation with an elderly man. It was difficult to break off the conversation in order to move on.

The route then went into Amersfoort. In a park we sat for a while and had discussions. Ernst does not like driving through unknown places and the route of the LF9 was quite different. We decided two things: 1 we will drive a bit more directly towards Nieuwegein and 2 we will avoid Utrecht.

Almost in Nieuwegein I got a flat tire again. I only inflated the tire for a while because the place where we were standing was really not suitable for changing the tire. It was full in the sun, on a bend on a bridge. Once in Nieuwegein, a tree with shade was soon found in front of a row of houses.

The tire was soon replaced and I just rang the bell at one of the houses to ask if I could wash my hands. Of course I was welcome to do that. Turned out to be the chairwoman of the Nieuwegein section of the Fiestersbond. Also avid cycling holidaymakers. She also knew Marten Sneep, the chairman of the NVHPV, the recumbent association of the Netherlands. How big is the Netherlands and how special it is coincidence.

From Nieuwegein we crossed the Lek to Vianen with a bicycle foot ferry and arrived in Vianen. We did some shopping there again. With this weather a supermarket is just fun shopping; nice and cool and of course you don't know where to find everything and you have to go through the store again.

After Vianen we really ended up in the river area. We arrived at Nieuwland via the road along the Merwede Canal.

The campsite was then quickly found. We got a nice spot which was very international: next to us was a camper from England, and behind us, in an apartment, was a French family. Later it turned out that there was a German family in the other apartment.

Because the thunderstorm was imminent, I thought it would be a good idea to let us cook for ourselves. I had misunderstood behind that the kitchen closed at 7.30pm instead of opening. After a day of cycling in the sun you are not quite there anymore.

So we made our own food again.

After dinner Ernst fixed the flat tires and I gathered the maps and route for the next day. Despite the fact that it rumbled in the distance, we did not see a drop of rain.