Cyclists on Vacation: Exploring Noordwijk and Noordwijkerhout

June 22nd , 20km cycled, 20km so far

After a good nights sleep we woke up ready to check out the breakfast offerings here at the NH Leeuwenhorst.  The hotel is fairly expensive and certainly the lunch we had on Saturday was pretty pricey for what little we ordered.  When we were on our long walk into Noordwijk aam Zee and back, we didn't see any place to shop for any kind of groceries, not even a convenience store to speak of.  The hotel is really out in the countryside, 3 or 4 kilometers from either Noordwijk or Noordwijkerhout, so the facilities here are what you depend on for food.  (By the way, the wijk part of those names is pronounced 'vike', the j is silent)  Which reminds me to comment on how pretty it is here, with farmland out front and a forested parkland behind the complex that is the hotel and conference center.  The first thing we noticed as we started our 'Longest Day' walk was the number of different song birds we were hearing.  Many of them were very melodic.  And you can hear them in the morning from our room, including one that squawks like the rare tropical bird in the movie 'UP'.  At least that is what it reminds me of.  But, back to breakfast.  We were pretty hungry and the included breakfast lived up to expectations, given that this is a higher end hotel.  Lots of breads, cheeses, fruit, yogurt, bacon, juices, milk, cereal, omelet made to order;  well, let's just say we had a good breakfast.

We went down to the front desk to rent bikes.  Now let me say this about bikes:  Bikes are everywhere, and everyone (meaning all ages) rides bikes.  All the main roads have dedicated bike paths, either a 2 way path on one side of the road or lanes on both sides of the road.  When there is no dedicated bike lane, it is only because the road is low traffic and the bike shares the road.  If it is a one-way street for cars it usually has a sign indicating that bikes can go both ways.  The only exception is the freeway and with the freeway there is always a road right next to it that has the bikeway included.  It's really easy to see where to go and when you are planning, you can pretty much expect to find a good bike path or shared road to go anywhere you want. 

Now here are the caveats:  Bikes and bikeways are as much a part of the system as cars and roads are.  There are lots of traffic circles with bike paths going around them and criss-crossing the entry and exit lanes for the cars.  Sometimes the bikes have the right of way, sometimes the cars.  There are signs and you have to pay attention, just like you would if you were in a car.  If you have right of way, you make eye contact and try not to hold up the cars that are stopping for you and waving you across :)  Likewise, you have to pay attention to the rest of the bike traffic.  Pretty well all the bikeways are either marked as 2 way or are still considered to be 2-way anyway.  If there are narrow bike lanes on both sides of a road then you can assume they are 1-way, but if they are separate from the car road itself (as in 'not just a shoulder lane') then you need to be aware of faster cyclists who may want to pass you on the left.  Which brings me to the thing that took the most getting used to:  Scooters (as in small motorcycles) are allowed on all but a very few specifically marked bike paths.  They travel at about 40 km/hr or maybe even faster, it's hard to tell,  let's just say that they are zipping around all over the place, especially up from behind.  Bells or horns are mandatory on bikes, but nobody uses them.  They do, however, use hand signals and expect us to as well.  So you have to get used to the fact that bikes are so much a part of the traffic system that, in fact, you ARE part of a traffic system and so you must ride according to general rules of the road/path like you would if you were in a car.

This is not to say that it isn't enjoyable, lots of the paths are wide enough that you can pedal 2 abreast and still pass or be passed by others.  And as you will see in the pictures, there are lots of beautiful stretches.  Lanes for cars are very narrow by north american standards and when shared with bikes on the minor roads cars tend to be patient and bikes tend to have right of way.  I have been really loving it.

Now finally, one more thing about bikes before I move on to the travels of the day:  When we first observed all the bikes left here and there and everywhere, we thought they were all being left unlocked.  But then we noticed that all bikes have a built in lock like the one on my rented bike shown here.  When the key is in, the rear wheel is unlocked and the key stays in while you are biking.  When you stop you lock the bike, taking the key out, and if it is rented, then you return the key.

So here is my bike, locked with the key out.

And here it is with the key in, ready to go


















Well cycling is one of the main things we intend to do on this trip.  So when we got through with breakfast, with this being the one day Erika would have before her conference got underway, we were anxious to get underway.  The hotel has a large inventory of bikes under the parking platform and they just give you a key at the desk and you go out and find the bike with the key number on it.

We decided to retrace our walking path from yesterday to get a good look at the ocean and the seaside town of Noordwijk.

Back on the sand at Noordwijk, it is always windy here, I think, so they rent space behind all those windbreaks

Marvin is saying "Hey look, sailboats!  I want to go there.

We were there at just the right time to see over a half dozen of these launch over the space of less than half an hour.  It was very interesting as it was quite tricky in the fairly strong wind and with good sized waves breaking.  Some knew exactly what they were doing and a couple had quite the struggle.

This guy knew what he was doing, kept his sail full while heading into the waves

Some would get broadside to the waves and the wind and each wave would really buck them up and wash them back toward shore and down the beach.  The one with the coloured sail is being lifted off the wheels that are used to roll them down to the water.

Once they got out past the surf, they could turn broadside to the wind and really boot it

Heading up the hill from the beach to the town

Farther down the beach, the main street of town opens up leading away from the beach

Now we discovered the real centre of Noordwijk aam Zee where there were lots of shops and lots of people.  Lots of fun and we found a cheese shop with samples of all their cheeses so we were able to try them and select our favourite plus some fruit breads.  Really yummy!

As we continued, we left town for a bit then found ourselves in the other part of Noordwijk, Noordwijk-Binnen.  Erika turned into the main alley with shops. Notice all the bikes.

Typical path on our ride back

As we ride, various towns or villages will pop up

In the afternoon we rode over toward Noordwijkerhout proper, looking for the downtown/shopping area. We missed it at first, riding out of town then turning around and wandering about for a while until we found the church and downtown area.

Downtown square, Noordwijkerhout

Bench of the day

We found a Dirk supermarket and picked up some fruit and bread

Main street with shops

More views of the square. 

The lovely road back to the conference center

We had really beautiful weather and picked up some nice supplies.  We found prices to be much cheaper than we expected.  Back at the hotel, we find we have cycled a total of about 20km.