Noord-Holland - 17th-18th July
I woke at 6.00AM to a sky covered with small cumulus clouds and a fresh North-East wind. By the time I set off the sky had cleared and the wind was already veering to the South. The first part of the day was like cycling through the Lincolnshire fens: dykes, polders, rivers, fields of bare earth, flooded fields, fields of lilies and alliums. Then I hit the dunes and turned due South into the wind. It was hard work and made me feel very glad that I'd crossed the Afsluitdijk the previous evening. I cycled past a seemingly never-ending campsite in the dunes at a place called Sint Maartenszee and then onto a very exposed section of dyke, which was just about the last I encountered. From here on it was dunes. The dunes at least gave some shelter from the wind, but there was now a new menace - other cyclists. Suddenly there seemed to be hundreds of them - old, young, sporty types and grandparents on ebikes. Eventually I reached the port of IJmuiden, crossed the river on a free ferry an...