Netherlands

After a late night yesterday taking in the sights of Amsterdam we had an easy morning in our apartment for our last day off somewhere before returning home.

After a stroll around town and a beer we met up with Mclean and his lovely girlfriend Alex for a chin-wag over a meal and some wine. Even at this late stage of the journey we are still surprised and amazed by the friendliness of strangers and I'm sure we'll be seeing them again at some point, hopefully Mclean, Ed and I can sort out a ride some day.

For dessert we had some glasses of whipped sorbet with vodka and champagne that were absolutely delicious!

On the way home I saw a couple of girls clutching a map, clearly lost and had been for some time as they were shivering, so went over to help. They showed me on the map where they wanted to get to, and I pointed out where we were.

"So, just left here is Dam square, and right is the direction you want. Keep walking for 5-10 minutes and you'll be there."
"Okay, so left: Dam square, right: our hotel. Thanks."

As I walked away I turned around to see them walking left!

Despite the marathon this morning we got out of Hamburg without any problem and were on the main road very quickly. The dual carriageway we were on was a slightly irritating mix of clear sections and roadworks (about half and half for 100 miles really). Beautiful weather again though and lots of bikers to wave to and wind turbines to look at!

We stopped for lunch just before the border with the Netherlands and the friendly Dutch waiter put the formula one on the tv for us!

Over the border the landscape flattened almost immediately to the stereotypical Dutch flats. Around an hour North of Amsterdam we reached the Dam separating the North Sea from the Ijsselmeer. This was something else: a 15 mile dam with an embankment on one side, the road stretching as far as you can see into the distance and water to your left for as far as you can see. Halfway along we stopped and got a view from the embankment. Quite strange to have water at different levels on either side!

We enjoyed the ride through the canal-side streets of Amsterdam and checked into our apartment for 2 nights. As we unloaded our things a guy called Mclean came over to chat with us. He's a Texan guy who is living and working in Amsterdam and has a big Harley. We'll be meeting up for a beer and a bike chat before we leave I think!

323 miles today takes us to 15 965 and we're off to the channel tunnel on Tuesday.