First day of pedaling

Sunday, July 27, 2014
Gouda, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Sun Jul 27
-my first decent night of sleep from about 9-5 . I guess it takes me 3 days or more to adjust to a 12 hour time change. We have flown half way around the world...
-we decided to delay our packing and headed down for bfast. It was extensive and yummy and I made sure to eat a bit extra given the day ahead. 
-we grabbed our bikes from storage and locked our good steeds up in preparation for loading them up. Up to the room to pack and sort then down to load them up. I found a way to mount the GPS. Yay! And once all of the final fiddling was done, we pedaled off!
-I was glad that we had practiced the route the night before and then soon the GPS was telling us that we were on course. We quickly exited the fray of Amsterdam and found ourselves on a peaceful fishing canal lined with Sunday fishermen. 
-we passed through a quaint little village and got caught by the manual drawbridge and the grumpy drawbridge lady. Onward we went after showering her with kindness just for fun. 
-we biked through beautiful landscape. It's amazing how far below sea level the houses and fields can be
-after 1.5 hours we were ready for a break and stopped by a bridge. By chance there was a picnic area nearby and we ended up having a great stop and a yummy orange. It was a fun stop and our butts were glad to get off the seats. It showed us how fun moments just happen and we were having a great time. 
-we pedaled on and after another hour we were passing through a town and Laura was ready for a lunch break. We found a fantastic cafe and enjoyed the food and drinks. My breakfast was still sticking with me but Laura did a great job of finishing off the dishes. Our only disappointment was the volleyball tournament that was going on.
-off we went and we quickly realized that our beloved GPS was leading us to an unwanted ferry. We had been paying attention to where we are and consulted the map and found an alternate route. So we headed off, old school, with a map and looking for signs. 
-it was fun and we only made a few wrong turns. Soon we were pedaling towards a huge white silo across a reclaimed pasture land and the GPS route . It was too funny and we took pictures to capture the event. 
-we kept on pedaling and despite the lovely landscape, it was starting to feel like a slog. We gutted it out, watching the kilometers slowly tick away, but we were ready to be done. 
-at last we arrived at our hotel for a long awaited shower and refreshment. Laura upped the anty by taking a soaking bath and a back stimulator treatment. Both of us were just happy to have our body parts off the bike seat. 
-today's bike stats: elapsed time 7:30, rolling time 4:05, distance 69 km. Pretty much what the bike tour guide predicted: Rolling time 4 hrs, distance 72 km. 
-we went to the square in Gouda and found a place for dinner. Then home to bed to rest our creaky bodies. 

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