A small trip to Texel

With all the kids away from home, Miss Micro-adventure and Me planned a weekend on the Island Texel.
Texel is an island in the North of the Netherlands.
It is the biggest and most populated of the Islands in the Wadden Sea.

We left the car behind on the parking at the harbor of Den Helder and cycle the “Ivan the Terrible” on the ferry to Texel. The double-decker ferry leaves from Den Helder every hour .The crossing lasts only 20 minutes

We found a place to put up our tent on a mini camping ground of a farm.
Very cheap and your wakeup call is from gooses, sheep’s and cows.
( Miss Micro adventure also heard a snoring pig that night, but I missed that. LOL )

The size of Texel is roughly 22km bij 8km. But there is over 135 kilometres of beautiful cycling path, mostly separate from the road. You can bring your own bicycle as we did, but there are also more than enough rental bikes available on Texel.


The North sea

Much of Texel is nature reserves which are home to rare plants and animals: nature which is unique in the Netherlands and even in Europe.

The Maritiem Museum in Oude Schild






The outhouse

Swallows


The Light house

The Lighthouse
The bold red lighthouse on the northern tip of the island is for many people the symbol of Texel.
After taking the staircase of 153 steps we had a magnificent view, over the North Sea, Wadden Sea and the nearby island of Vlieland.



Turbulent history
In 1864 Texel got a lighthouse, after years of campaigning. Before the establishment of the lighthouse every year many ships perished, because the surrounding waters were so dangerous for shipping.
The lighthouses played a important in the revolted of the German army battalion of Georgians in 1944.


The 'old land' is characterised by the presence of ‘stolp' farms, garden walls and sheep pens.


The old fort

After two fantastic day's and 110 km on the tandem, the ferry was waiting for bringing us back to Den Helder.

Rain gear test

Test area


-Ivan the Terrible successful
-Olympus Tough successful
-Vaude Discovery classic bicycle bag successful



-Big blue Goretex jacket XL successful


( only some comments on the missing drawstrings lol )

Safety zone very successful



Next week in Tornado Ally

Egmond - Scheveningen

After a relaxed night in Hotel Zuiderduin and a luxurious breakfast,
it was time to start cycling again.
First stop, the lighthouse.


The J.C.J. van Speijk Lighthouse was selected in 1834 as the national J.C.J van Speijkmonument, to honor the memory of the Dutch naval hero.

When the Belgian War of Independence broke out Van Speijk gained an appointment as commander of a gunboat.
Van Speijk despised the Belgian independence movement.
On February 5, 1831, a gale caused his boat to drift into the quay at the port of Antwerp. Belgians stormed the boat and demanded Van Speijk take the Dutch flag down. Rather than complying, he fired a pistol (some versions say he threw a lit cigar—few if any first-hand witnesses survived) into a barrel of gunpowder in the ships armory, legendary saying "Dan liever de lucht in", which translates as, "(I'd) rather be blown up then".



This time we past the Noordzee canal (that’s the canal between Amsterdam and the North Sea) by ferry. This ferry is free for cyclist. On this beautiful Sunday the ferry was full of cyclist and no cars.


“I’m the Queen of the world!” ( Fortunately for me, the ferry continued to float)



Ivan!


Checking the GPS.



And the great dunes again.



An old WW2 german tankwall near Katwijk



Result of 195 km in two sunny day's LOL

Iwan de Verschrikkelijke part 2

Fedor Iwan den Hertog was a Dutch racing cyclist.
He won the Olympic 100 km team time trial in 1968 with Joop Zoetemelk, René Pijnen and Jan Krekels. He also won the national road championship in 1977.



As an amateur, Den Hertog won the British Milk Race in 1969 and 1971. His most outstanding performance was the Rheinland-Pfalz tour in Germany in 1969, when he won nine of 11 stages and overall, 36 minutes ahead of the field. He was national road champion in 1968 and pursuit champion in 1968 and 1971. He came third in the Olympic team time trial in 1972, won the Grand Prix des Nations in 1969 and 1970, and in 1969 won the Tour of Belgium.

Den Hertog or as the call him "Ivan the Terrible" was considered the best amateur of his time, and many professional teams wanted him, but he declined out of fear to lose his freedom.



In 1974, Den Hertog finally turned professional but he had passed his peak. He first rode the Tour de France in 1974. He rode three times for the Dutch team, Frisol, coming 27th, 18th and then not finishing, although in 1977 he won the stage to Rouen. He broke away from the field 21 km from the finish and won by 20 seconds.

He won a stage in the Vuelta à España in 1977 but retired soon afterwards. He opened a bicycle business in Dilsen in Belgium.

Fedor Den Hertog died after a long illness in Feb 2011.

From his estate came this white tandem and I was very lucky to buy it.

As all my bicycles have names, it's logical, to make a tribute and call this bicycle “Iwan the Verschrikkelijke”

Ivan de Verschrikkelijke

Please meet Ivan de Verschrikkelijke ( Ivan the Terrible )







More after the test ride :-)