Ride in North Holland, Sunday 16th November

[Cloggy]

This is for the guys/gals from Holland (area)

This coming Sunday @ 10 Oclock Ton (Thulst) & myself are planning to do a ride along a few of the dikes in North Holland, my neck of the woods. Anyone wishing to join are more than welcome

It might be bad weather but who cares, there are enough possible stops (Cafe's) along the way (Purmerend, Volendam, Edam, Hoorn, Enkhuizen, Medemblik, Schagen & Alkmaar of course).

Sorry that this is a bit last minute but we finally arranged it quite recently. Here is the route, we can always extend it if it's good weather
View attachment 10147

The ANWB do a "Koudepotentocht" (cold feet tour) every year (I did it last year), this is the last main ride of the season, before the really bad weather sets in, maybe this will be the same.

Let me know if you want to come along, I've also posted this in the NL & BE riders social group if you prefer to arrange things there.

 

[mastakilla]

man I wish I could come! But northern Holland is a bit far from Belgium

How long is that trip by the way?

 

[Cloggy]

man I wish I could come! But northern Holland is a bit far from Belgium

How long is that trip by the way?

Matt, shame you can't make it, the trips only 190Km's but only a few of the roads are A (N) roads so it could be slower going (especially if the weathers wet). If it's good weather I could easily extend it.

 

[Cloggy]

Bump
Here's the weather forecast for the coming days.
View attachment 10148
Sunday's looking pretty good, So who knows....

 

[mastakilla]

hehe, somewhere in the middle of the map it says "Kloggenland". Sounds kinda like "Cloggyland" to me

 

[Cloggy]

Welcome to my land :thumbup:

Well in the summer this area is full of tourists buying cloggs and cheese, there are loads of windmills and Dutch dikes. Here's a link to a few of the places, the very touristy Volendam, Edam, Enkhuizen, Hoorn, The Zaanse schans are also close by.
So in short we have lots of cheese and of course cloggs around these parts, some older people still wear Cloggs but I really hope it's just for the tourists .

 

[Rev-A]

it's a bit too far from where i live, otherwise I would have joined in. Also, I need to study this weekend

 

[Unseen]

It looks a little like the route for the "ronde van Noordholland" bicycle tour, though that also goes a little further North to Medemblick. I did that tour this spring and I was really surprised how beautiful this part of Holland actually is.

I can't make it, enjoy people :thumbup:

 

[Cloggy]

This one does go upto Medemblik only it's all covered with little red dots.:thumbup:

I've combined parts of the "koudepotentocht" from the ANWB (that I rode last year)and a few roads I know very well, around the Alkmaar area.

Shame you can't make it , sorry it was so last minute maybe next time :thumbup:

 

[Unseen]

How was the trip? The weather certainly wasn't bad!

And I've bought a replacement FJ600. Getting it Saturday, hope there's not to much sleet!

 

[Cloggy]

It was definately good weather, slightly cloudy with good sunny periods, it stayed dry apart from one light shower, and that was when we were in a cafe :thumbup:

Well when Ton arrived in the morning, after his 1 & 3/4 hour ride from oss, we had a couple of coffees and a chat before setting off on our trip at about 1030.
After leaving Alkmaar we followed the West Fresian ring dike (sorry couldn't find a good english site) for a while before branching off toward Purmerend. We passed plenty of windmills on the way:

View attachment 10329

The roads were reasonably clear apart from a few bits of mud/gravel here and there (they are mainly used as farm roads) but (as usual) very few cagers :thumbup:
we rode through Purmerend and on toward Volendam. In Volendam we rode through the groups of people who were having a day out there, we decided to ride on as it was a bit too busy.
We rode on to Edam where we stopped for a bite to eat. After a nice (small) meal we set off again and after filling up with Petrol we headed back towards the dike. All of a sudden this quiet town became a hub of activity with lots of people, mainly parents with children all heading in one direction, the same one as us. Well I only knew one way to the dike so we slowly made our way through all the kids who were making their way to the arrival of saint Nicolaas (sinterklaas) who just happened to have arrived this weekend (on a steam boat together with his horse from spain ).
Well after finally carefully making our way through the crowds of children we headed on our way toward Hoorn.
Here's a pic along the dike just into Hoorn:
View attachment 10330
Then we went into Hoorn town center:
Here's one of the old Dutch sea heroes:
View attachment 10331
and the corn exchange (public weighing house):
View attachment 10332
and the harbour tower:
View attachment 10333

 

[Cloggy]

A few more pics in Hoorn:
The boys from the ship the "bontekoe"
View attachment 10334
One of the city gates:
View attachment 10335
Riding through the city gates:
View attachment 10339

Unfortunately the dike between Hoorn and Enkhuizen was closed for repair/reinforcing, we tried to get to it by different routes but the dike was shut to traffic . Well we were finally forced to follow the main road to Enkhuizen.
In Enkhuizen we first stopped at the "Dromedaris" tower for some pics:
View attachment 10337 View attachment 10338
and then we went to a cafe close by for a drink.
After a short stop we headed off to Medemblik. We rode to the castle Radbout in Medemblik, we didn't take any pics as it was getting a bit overcast by this stage.
After this we followed the West Fresian ring dike back to Schagen. After a phone call home to say we were on our way (so Mrs cloggy could put the lasagne in the oven)we rode the last stretch of the dike towards home.

Well after a meal a cup of tea (and of course a chat) Ton left, heading out through the cool (cold) evening air on his ride back home.

Thanks for the great day out Ton, I had a really good ride in great company.

BTW loved your HID head/pod lights, they looked great and were really bright :drool:

 

[Wavex]

Awesome! reminds me of home

BTW, I read somewhere that Holland coffee shops are in trouble these days? Gov wants to change the law? very sad!

 

[Cloggy]

Awesome! reminds me of home

BTW, I read somewhere that Holland coffee shops are in trouble these days? Gov wants to change the law? very sad!

Thats true it's a big thing at the moment, the government wants to ban it but are getting a lot of resistance from certain groups who believe it's as much a part of the Dutch culture as windmills

 

[Wavex]

I would agree with these groups... I spent a few weekends in Holland during my college years and I`ll admit I spent more time visiting coffee shops than windmills :rof:

Ahhh sooo many good memories of camping in Amsterdam, or Haarlem, or the beach of Zandvort (sp?)...

 

[Cloggy]

I would agree with these groups... I spent a few weekends in Holland during my college years and I`ll admit I spent more time visiting coffee shops than windmills :rof:

Ahhh sooo many good memories of camping in Amsterdam, or Haarlem, or the beach of Zandvort (sp?)...

Great to hear you had some smokin' times here
It's Zandvoort, but close enough :thumbup: These towns are not far from here so I know them pretty well, friends of ours live in Haarlem & everybody knows Amsterdam :rockon:.

 

[thulst]

Hey Martin,

Thanks for the great ride and fantastic dinner. The tour was more than great. I hope we get the chance to ride again some day during summer season. Maybe more people will join then after seeing the great pics you've made.

Thanks again to you and your family.

Ton

 

[mastakilla]

Damn I definately need to join you guys next time, all 3 of us on our red 2007 Fizzer

 

[Cloggy]

Hey Martin,

Thanks for the great ride and fantastic dinner. The tour was more than great. I hope we get the chance to ride again some day during summer season. Maybe more people will join then after seeing the great pics you've made.

Thanks again to you and your family.

Ton

Ton thanks for the great company I had a blast:thumbup: Hopefully we'll get a few more people together next time, but it'll probably be in the south next time closer to the other guys.

Damn I definately need to join you guys next time, all 3 of us on our red 2007 Fizzer

Well I like to think that I don't discriminate but up till now nobody's proven that red is NOT the fastest colour :thumbup:

 

[Philippe1985]

Aha, ik ben ook van uit de "buurt". Met ook een rode fz6 van 2007.