Unable to face another day trudging round Amsterdam, we did what all Tour de France riders do on their rest days and went for a bike ride. The forecast threatened thunderstorms but it looked pretty good after breakfast so we decided to risk it. Just 20 minutes from the bustle of Amsterdam and we were in beautiful countryside and bombing along in the sun with a brisk tailwind. We were cycling in an area called, for pretty obvious reasons, Waterland, with drainage canals everywhere at various levels (we were at a elevation of -1m). So many houses were surrounded on 2 or 3 sides by water. A coffee and cake stop was made at Monnickendam then we continued to the tourist magnets of Volendam and Edam where we were back trying to dodge Chinese coach parties and their selfie sticks. A beer stop in Edam was briskly followed by a ride to the ferry at Volendam where we bought a ticket to the 'island' village of Marken. As we approached we could see a brooding thunderstorm, and the boat was illuminated with lightning, so we donned rain gear in anticipation. Happily we only caught the edge of it as we cycled back to Amsterdam along the causeway and sea dykes against a lessening headwind. It was certainly a pleasure to ride without the full luggage weight on the rack. We ate in tonight as we couldn't be bothered to walk anywhere, and because we need to repack the panniers for our mixed-media travels over the next 2 days. The next big challenge looks like the final leg of our journey home as, after nearly a month of hitch-free travel, Scotrail is on strike and it looks like our final train to Inverurie is cancelled! Britain welcomes us home!
63.6 km; 16.7 kph avg; 3:47 moving time; 128m ascent
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