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Showing posts with the label Amsterdam

Out of Amsterdam

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The ride across Amsterdam was very pleasant and stress-free, now that navigation was working in our favour and because there were cycle paths everywhere. Almost too soon, we were out of the city and heading north-west, back to the North Sea and the Kustroute. Rain arrived in the night, complete with lightning and low rumbling thunder. It's always a pleasure to hear raindrops on the tent fly, not so much to find water inside the tent. There was some dampness in the morning. And the rain was forecast to last most of the day. It was an easy decision to stay put, eventually emerging from our tent a few minutes before noon.  But I only exchanged the tent for the shelter of the barn where I could sit more comfortably. And watch the rain fall, it sometimes fading to almost nothing then returning with a vengeance. This should be bringing a smile to farmers' faces. In the mid-afternoon, the skies lightened and we risked a walk to the nearby dunes that...

Across Country to Amsterdam.

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A good night in the tent but it got very warm very early and I was dripping by the time that the tent was stowed and we were ready to head out and explore more of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. I entered "current location" and "Mercure Amsterdam City Hotel" into  https://cycle.travel  on my phone, generated a route away from the coast to our Amsterdam hotel, downloaded the gpx file, opened the file in my Wahoo Elemnt app and passed it to my handlebar cycle computer (a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt). It sounds complicated but in a few minutes the route was in my cycle computer, ready to guide us through our day. To pre-empt any complaints that fellow cyclists sometimes direct at those who 'depend' upon electronics to navigate, let me state that I have used old-school paper maps for navigation for the last half century or so. It is, no doubt, a handy skill to have. But modern technology does have many advantages: it tells me where I am currently located and where to turn...