Marken

Today was our last day. It came with mixed feelings. We're eager to see the kids and grandkids but not ready to return to our busy schedules. We decided to spend the day exploring the area along the North Sea - we never did get there. After breaky, we headed out. Dave didn't sleep well and so had done the research for the day during the night. He had a plan but I don't know how well we followed it. Within 90 minutes we arrived at Marken which is a small island with similarities to Mackinac Island.  Only residents may have cars on the island. We parked and rented a tandum bike.

The day was beautiful. Almost all sun and 68. A great way to end the trip. There was a bike path around the island - only 7 klms long. Dave was in the front of the bike and therefore had control of it. For the most part this worked well. He tends to stay a little too far to the right for me and I wondered if we were going to go over the edge and down the side of the dyke. Yes, the entire trip around the island was on top of a dyke. At points the bike path was about 12" wide which meant I could feel the grass brushing against both my feet as we rode. When other bikers came along, I insisted that we got off the bike rather than try to have both of us use the same narrow trail. On one side of the dyke was the water - not the North Sea but water from the North Sea  - and the other side had a drop of at least 10" to the polder (ground reclaimed from the sea and found behind a dyke).

There was a main part to the island, stores/most of the houses, and then there were clumps of houses (5 or so) every once in awhile along the bike path. Kind of strange why they were located there but it was very nice. We stopped a couple of times to sit on benches and look at the water. One stop was at a lighhouse. There were sailboats everywhere. We counted what we could see and came to about 145. When we got back on the trail, there were even more around the next bend. It was at the lighthouse that we pulled out the raisin buns that we bought at the market a few days ago and  the butter we took from breakfast. We spread the butter on the buns with a spoon we took from our hotel room. It worked just fine.

Most of the island is farmland with many cows and sheep. Some farmers were haying. It was all so peaceful. After about 2 1/2 hours, we returned the bikes. There was a shop there that made wooden shoes but not until 4 pm - which wasn't true because we went back at 4 and nothing was happening. I had to go to the bathroom - which you could do for 50 cents in this store. I paid my money, waited in line, used a toilet that didn't flush and put the paper in a pail, because you weren't allowed to flush it. That was new experience.  

We wandered through the very small town and made our way to a bench by the water. (When we returned the bikes I was hot and so changed into my shorts. Within minutes, the sun went away.) The idea was to read for awhile on the bench. Dave lasted about 2 minutes and then laid down for a nap. I read a bit and became colder and colder. When Dave work up we decided it was time to go. The very narrow streets were almost clogged with huge groups of people travelling in packs. Turns out there were 5 tour buses in the parking lot. We counted at least that many (some double deckers) on the way to the island as we headed out. Too bad some of the shops had already closed up!

Dave wanted to follow the water as far as we could back to our hotel. That's all well and good but you can't see the water from the road. It's high above the road on the other side of the dyke. We did see more beautiful farmland. Many people were out doing Saturday things like working in the yard, painting their houses, and fixing their driveways - which were made with cobblestones.

In one town we crossed a draw bridge (it lifted up on both sides - separating in the middle. There were posts on either side of the road right before the bridge. They were so close together that we had to pull the side mirrors in and then just barely squeaked through. Fun.

Our "last supper" was in a small town sitting in the sun. We toasted to a great trip, talked about some highlights, and mixed in a bit of what reality would bring on Monday. We had finished eating by 6:30 (at least that's back to our normal schedule) and made our way back to the hotel. The car was quite dirty and since we didn't want to get stuck with a cleaning fee, Dave washed it. (You get much more time on each cycle than you would in Cedar.) Watching Dave trying to figure out which of the 8 options (all in Dutch) he needed was amusing.

We're back in the hotel room with suitcases, bags, clothes, and general stuff everywhere. It's been a treat staying in one place for 3 nights. The airport is 30 minutes away. The car is due back by 11:30 am and we take off at 1:20 pm  (that's 7:30 am your time). If all goes well, we'll land in Detriot about 4 pm and will be home by 7 (which will be 1 am for us). The plan is to sleep for about 10 hours and then jump back into life with both feet. Yes, we're both going to work on Monday.

We've put 2,300 klms (almost 1,000 miles) on the car.
We've filled the car 4 times and washed it once.
We've been in 5 countries: Holland, England, Wales, France, and Belgium.
We've eaten lots of great food and some quite poor food.
We've drank many cups of tea and glasses of beer.
We've visited  9 churches and 4 castles.
We've taken 2 ferries and 3 river cruises.
We've stayed in 6 B&Bs and 6 hotels.

My favorite meal was salmon lasanga and Dave's was sea bream - both  enjoyed at the same meal in Bergen op Zoom, Holland.

My favorite moment was in Gouda where it felt like I was in the 1200s. Dave's favorite moment was
riding the bike on the dyke in Marken.

My favorite town was Delft and Dave's was Bergen op Zoom.

My favorite lodging was the B&B in Pyle, Wales and Dave's was on the ferry from Holland to England.

The best part of the trip? That will take time to figure out.

And so ends the story of our travels for this trip.