North Holland Bicycle and Boat Trip (September 8-15, 2018)

Waiting for hand-ferry across De Tsjonger of De Kuunder (Frisia, Day 3)

Last December, after Michelle tore her right ACL, MCL and meniscus skiing, things looked gloomy for her; she really wanted something down the line for her to look forward to. Given our great time in 2017 on the Rhine and Neckar "Bike & Boat" trip, we decided to book a similar trip for September 2018. (We chose September to ensure her knee healed, and to give us time to cruise May-August to Haida Gwaii.)

We initially hoped to secure an upper cabin on the same boat as last year, and bike & cruise the Mosel River. However, these were fully booked. Sticking with the same company (SE Tours, Bremerhaven), we decided to try their "North Holland" trip on the "MS Serena".

The MS Serena

The MS Serena carries about 100 passengers. Not too large; easy to get to know the crew and other passengers. It is not a luxury ship, but we found it to be very comfortable, with good food and friendly crew. We booked very early (January, 2018) and were fortunate to get one of only two "Junior Suites" on the ship. For only an extra 120 Euros (total for week), the Junior Suite has a large double bed (instead of single bunks, a bathroom with an opening window, and more space; we found it to be well worth it. The trip cost includes room and all meals, printed route guide and daily "route" briefing. (Bike rental is extra, as are end-of-trip tip.) Alcohol drinks are extra (at a very reasonable cost -- usually less than cost on land.) We founds the meals excellent (and too much); the ship's crew excellent.

The "Junior Suite" -- relative luxury

The "North Holland" trip starts and ends in Amsterdam.  A brief route description is given here (a much more detailed description is available here in pdf form), so we will only give some comments and photos. FYI: the cycling is not a "guided tour". We are given details of the route (and various route options), suggested stops (Andreas the tour guide especially seemed to like coffee and cake shops) and sidetrips, as well as information regarding hazards, etc. We are then left to ourselves t0 bike.

The North Holland Bicycle and Boat Route

We've posted all our photos of this trip on a FLICKR album here

The "Fietsflat" at Amsterdam Central Station: 3 levels of free parking for 2500 bikes. The Dutch are really into cycling!

We were glad our actual cycling did not begin in Amsterdam: Only a few minutes there indicated crowded bike lanes with cyclists who were not very "flexible" regarding newbie or foreign cyclists (we had been warned about this by Amsterdam locals on the TripAdvisor Netherlands Forum). Simply stated: as a pedestrian or cyclist, don't get in their way! By the time we returned to Amsterdam at the end of the week of cycling, we felt more confident re: cycling in Amsterdam and better understood the Dutch "approach" to cycling. 😓


Day 1: Arrive on ship in Amsterdam; ship leaves for Hoorn. An easy and short cruise during our first dinner. Hoorn was a very cute town, full of small bars and restaurants around the docks filled with yachts. After dinner, we took a short walk around the various yachts.

Day 2: Cycle from Hoorn to Enkhuizen. We first cycled within Hoorn, a beautiful, historic old town.

Hoorn's Westfries Museum (building built 1632)

Statue of Jan Pieterszoon Coen in Hoorn's Rode Steen Square

Founded in 716, Hoorn rapidly grew to become a major harbour town. ("Cape Horn" at the southernmost tip of South America was named by Schouten in 1616 in honour of  his home town Hoorn.) Hoorn was an important home base for the Dutch East India Company; Jan Pieterszoon Coen (1587–1629) is famous for his violent raids in Dutch Indies (now Indonesia), where he supposedly "founded" the city of Batavia in 1619 (now Jakarta). He is considered a hero by some, and a mass murderer by others.

After checking out Hoorn, Michelle and I headed out for the day's journey of about 25 km to Enkhuizen. We initially chose the "dyke" route, but after 10 or so km, we were a bit bored with the route and decided to head inland to the route through the "polder" (farmland below sea level behind dikes). This biking was far more interesting, with green fields and many animals (mostly cows) to enjoy, small villages and little traffic (to our surprise, there was bothersome traffic on the dike "bike route"). The "green fields, cows/sheep/horses, canals, and relatively quite bike routes" were to become the norm over the coming days.

Enkhuizen was another very cute (and touristy) town, with many yachts and a lovely old port. We hadn't readup on North Holland, so were very pleasantly surprised by these towns. And many sail boats; we were surprised the Dutch were so into sailing. Facilities and small-craft harbours were everywhere we docked.

Enkhuizen

Small craft harbour in Enkhuizen (Netherlands has many many such harbours)

Day 3: Shipping in morning from Enkhuizen to Lemmer; then cycle roundtrip of about 35 km.

Lemmer is yet another cute town with a busy small-craft harbour. Today's ride is a circle trip along dikes and canals, along farm fields and through nature preserves. In the middle, a "surprise" (well, not such a surprise as we told all about it...).

The "surprise": a hand-cranked ferry for bicycles across De Kuunder

Michelle and Danish friend Bente try their hand at cranking us across

Alpacas?

Typical bike-route signage (Green circle with number "34")

At the end of the day, the winds picked up, making the bike riding a little harder. Back on board the Serena in Lemmer, showers then drinks "helped".

Day 4: Cycle Lemmer to Stavoren (approx. 42 km)
A very windy day, the cycling proved to be very tiring (despite there being no hills anywhere). we first detoured to the quaint village of Sloten. (This route also went away from the seaside dikes, which we hoped to have less wind. To some  this worked. Nevertheless, we would have to return to the seaside at Stavoren.).

Old windmill in Sloten

Sloten

On most days of our bike riding, we spent some time riding along canals. we were surprised to often see small-to-medium-sized cruisers (almost always powerboats) moored along the canals, often seemingly out in the middle of nowhere.

Canal cruising at Sloten

Today's ride was particularly tiring, riding against the strong winds. So, we happily finally stopped at one of guide Andreas' recommended stops: Prins Bakery and Cafe.

Coffee and cake at Prins Bakery

Today's ride saw the usual loads of cows. But a new addition were hundreds of horses. Most of these were black Frisians.  So many horses that we began to wonder why so many. (After all, The Netherlands is a big consumer of horsemeat....)

Frisian horses... and cows

Typical scenery on a Dutch bike ride

Stavoren is an historic port which has declined in importance since it silted-in. Nevertheless, there are thousands of yachts moored in marinas in the area. We had a difficult ride to Stavoren against the wind.

Serena seemed rather large as she docked in Stavoren in the 30 knot winds. we were very impressed with Captain Bianca's skill!  A long, tiring day riding against the wind, we were relieved to be back on the Serena!

Serena pulls a U-turn and docks in 30-kn winds in Stavoren

That night, we were due to ship over to Texel Island. But the harbormaster at Texel informed our Captain the seas at the harbour entrance were dangerous. we therefore only went partway, going through the east lock of the Afsluitdijk and stayed the eve at the commercial docks of  Den Dever.


Day 5: Ship from Den Dever to Oudeschild (Texel); Roundtrip Bike on Texel (48 km). (Eve: shipping to Den Helder)

Serena left Den Dever by 6am in the morning, and we were docked in Oudeschild on Texel (pronounced "Tessel") Island by 9am. No wind, but it was raining. Given the weather, we opted for the "middle" route which gave an overall taste of the island over 45-50 km.

In the rain at Da Slufter. Texel

Da Slufter (Texel)

Happily, the rain stopped after about 1 hour. Bike riding was easy without wind, with a mixture of dike riding, polder, and dunes. Very green and lots of animals. Our route took us through Den Burg, the main town on Texel (with a very cute central core). It looked very nice, but we had a goal: get back to the boat, have a shower, then ride back 10 minutes to the "Texel Brewery".

Texels Brewery produced excellent beer!

Bente and Arne (our Danish -- not Finish -- friends) also liked the beer!

The Texels Brewery was very friendly and brewed/served excellent beer. It was a fast 5-10 minute ride back down to the boat.

Serena was supposed to leave to cross to Den Helder by 6pm, but problems at the locks in Den Helder delayed our leaving. Indeed, we left Texel without knowing if the locks would work that night. They didn't, so we docked in a different area.

Day 6: Den Helder to Alkmaar (55 km).
Today's cycling was mostly along the North Sea coast, with a high dike and dunes on the ocean side. On the land side of the dike were extensive polder, with the usual cows,  sheep and horses. David didn't love the dike riding (boring); he preferred the polder and the many animals.

Riding beside the dunes

Polder on the land side of the dikes

Lunchtime by the dunes (near Camperduin)

Also, it started getting crowded on the bike route, as this is a very popular area for the Dutch. Making the bike trails worse were the many many electric bikes and even worse, the motor scooters which roar by you (apparently, motor scooters will be banned from bike trails as of 2019). After lunch, the crowds on the bike trail bothered us so much, we decided to strike out and go inland on a route not part of our recommended route. It was so much better after this. We arrived in Alkmaar about 45 minutes before Serena arrived.

Serena was docked very close to Almaar's old town and square, allowing us to grab a quick beer. The old town is, as we've now come to expect, very cute and very touristy.

The Alkmaar "Waag" (Cheese Weigh House) -- where "cheese market" occurs

Michelle, Arne & Bente pose for a "cheesy" photo in Alkmaar

Day 7: Visit Alkmaar "Cheese Market"; Ship Alkmaar to Wormerveer; cycle Wormerveer to Amsterdam (35 km)

Alkmaar is famous for its weekly (every Friday) "cheese market". Our schedule provided time to see it before leaving Alkmaar. However, we had been forewarned (including by our waiter at the bar in town last night) that this was not a real market, and that it was simply a show for tourists. These warnings were 100% correct, and after perhaps 40 minutes, we returned to the ship, rather bored.

Touristy or not, that's a lot of cheese (all gouda)

While at the cheese market, why not buy some wooden clogs?

They're dressed-up in costume, selling cheese packages

Arriving by ship in Wormerveer, we start our last day of bike riding. A sunny, easy ride for 35 km. We could have stopped at "Zaanse Schans" (where windmills and buildings from around the Netherlands have been moved for tourists to view), but didn't (though even locals say a stop is worth it). We've already seen many old windmills over the past week. Still, we took some photos.

Zaanse Schans (check out the sailboat motoring by)

Zaanse Schans

After Zaanse Schans, we missed a turn and were briefly lost. But such are the bike routes that it is easy to find an alternative and get back on track. And our "wrong way" took us past/through a chocolate factory district (our clothes came through smelling of chocolate!) and a cute suburb. we soon rejoined the "proper" track.

Our final part of the journal was to take a ferry (free) across to Amsterdam Central Station, where the Serena was due to dock. We were early, so we locked up the bikes and went over to a cafe-bar we discovered before the trip that served good beer.

At 5pm, we took an optional Amsterdam canal tour for 1 hour (well worth it), and then returned to the Serena to prepare for the Captain's dinner, the final dinner of the trip.

Drinks in the ship's lounge before the Captain's Dinner

Captain's Dinner (Michelle, Bente, Arne, David)

We made good friends with Bente and Arne from Denmark. As it turned out, we four were the only tour clients that needed the tour/biking information in English. From the first night, we were assigned to the table with Bente and Arne, as well as Erika and Werner from Switzerland. Happily, the six of us all got along well. For this specific cruise, most of the passengers were German speaking; there also was a group of 16 from Finland who had their own tour guide. (Last year, our boat had about 20 English speakers. On the Serena cruise following ours, we were told that at least 80 Canadians were booked. So one never knows.)

Day 8: early breakfast, then caught train to Germany  (blog post soon to follow)

Overall, a great "bike and boat" trip. We enjoyed biking the Netherlands and especially the MS Serena.