After the previous evening of rain we awoke to a sunny morning with young rabbits around most of the pitches. Right next to our motorhome was a family of four hawfinches feeding on the ground, the colours of the male were bright and we had a great views his chestnut head and the huge blue-grey beaks, on the two youngsters as well as the adult birds. A good start to our day. We took a bus to the small town of Amersfoort south east of Amsterdam and immediately thought what a pretty place it was. An old town gate with towers made a nice entrance and in a large square was a huge clock tower which dominated the skyline standing 322 feet 7 inches high and as we gazed up at it over apple pie and a beer, we heard the familiar cries of a peregrine as it circled the ornate pinnacles and weathervane. On each quarter hour, part of a tune was played by the bells, culminating finally on the hour with the full finale before also chiming the hour.
Beautiful traditional brick buildings with Dutch gables of varying styles, fancy stone work, wooden shutters and brick paved roads and squares give the town an Old Worlde feel. Canals form a regular grid between the roads with small bridges located at intervals, it is so pretty. It’s noticeable how there is a gentle pace of life with, locals chatting in the shops and cafes and multitudes of bikes in numerous styles to suit families, the daily shopping run or just the most popular way of getting around.
A great way to see the sights was to take an electric sightseeing boat around the canals and look up at the buildings and bridges. The commentary was in Dutch but we had an information sheet plus the guide had excellent English and pointed out a few extra things to us.
A short journey by train took us into Amsterdam where we walked to Rembrandt Square, Dam Square and around the flower market. Next day we went in again to meet up my with niece Emily. Our personal guide took us around the city she calls home, showing us the pretty canals and squares, the oldest building which is called De Oude Kerk is a church dating to 1213 . We circled around part of the Red Light District spotting a few ladies in windows before visiting the Nine Streets in the Jordaan Area and it’s lovely quiet canals where we found a nice bar for a few drinks.
As a contrast to the city we drove up the east side of the lower Zuidersee to Almere for a walk around an Internationally important bird conservation area. As everything is so flat the skies are vast, but within ten minutes we had the best bird of the trip, a magnificent white tailed eagle which floated around above us for over ten minutes, serious neck ache was achieved! Also we heard a bird neither of us recognised, it was a first for us identifying a Marsh Warbler by its song using BirdNET, a really useful App. We heard it many times around the marshes and canals but never got to see it, unlike the normally elusive cuckoo which we’ve heard such a lot all over Holland, we actually saw two of those. After walking around 4 miles and spending time in a tall bird hide watching geese, a great white egret, great crested grebes and numerous types of duck, we were nearly finished when a beautiful bittern did a fly-past, just couldn’t get better than that.
The distances around Holland are not great, so on our way to the coast we stopped off at some more lakes for a walk, admired thatched houses in various styles, lots of wildflowers and butterflies plus added a red crested pochard and kingfisher to our bird list.
At the campsite near Bloemendaal on the west coast the weather finally became beach friendly, so we had a day walking on the sand for a couple of miles, stopped for a drink and walked back again to have lunch overlooking the beach. It was so relaxing and warm, we able to wear shorts again and cooking an evening meal outside which was a real treat.
Haarlem was just a short bus ride away and another really beautiful town complete with a windmill grinding grain into flour, canals of course, a tall elegant church tower, large town square and a picturesque white lifting bridge.
Added to all those amazing features, we found Jopen, a local brewery in an old church still retaining its arched windows and outside there was a large seating area to sit and choose from it’s range of 20 home brewed ales. With the ABV ranging from 3.3% to 11.4%, and 17 of the beers above 5%, you had to keep to the small glasses if you wanted to try a few!
Our last stay was at Gouda, famous for it’s cheese of course but also having the oldest Gothic city hall in Holland, dating from 1450 and having been rebuilt after a fire destroyed the original. On our visit Gouda was celebrating 750 years having been founded in 1272. Around the city hall in the middle of a huge square, several beach volley ball courts had been built at one end with sand shipped in for the surfaces.
The following morning a large market had transformed the rest of the space with fresh flowers, meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and clothes. It certainly would be a place for a longer stay as there was a lot going on.
To round off our holiday on our return to Harwich we travelled a few miles south to stay with Maureen and Kenny for a couple of nights. After a late night chatting to the small hours, we enjoyed a great morning Geocashing around fields and the coast notching up 13 cashes in total followed by a beer, more chatting and a great Thai meal in the evening. What a wonderful finale!
On our trip around Holland we travelled by motorhome, bicycle, bus, train and water taxi. We stayed in 11 different locations and I drove 690 miles while there, with a lot of it below sea level. We walked 124 miles in 24 days, cycled 17 miles in one day and took numerous boat trips but no idea how far we went! We have a bird count of 92 bird species and 8 different butterflies and have seen more hares here than I’ve ever seen in the UK. There are so many huge herds of dairy cows, no wonder they make tons of cheese. And there are a lot of windmills and canals!
Our motorhome adventures 