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.

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

Scheveningen-Egmond

So we had a weekend to spend without the kids.
Anja found a nice hotel in Egmond aan zee and of we wend weekend for cycling on the Tandem “Ivan the Terrible”.






That means much less car traffic.
But this say's nothing about wild horses and Scottish highlanders.



Time for hydration and refueling in Noordwijk.





It was also the Day of the lifeboat. So in every coastalplace the saw the lifeboat in action full of new supporting members.



The Scottish Highlanders were taking a rest in the shadow.






Next stop the Birdlake



With a big "Aalscholver" colony (cormorants)





HOTEL ZUIDERDUIN
A great modern hotel 100meters from the beach and 5 minutes walking from the old centre. The rooms a big and pleasant.
The have special lockable bicycle parkings in the underground parkingspace.
So now worries over the bicycle.





What more can you want after 100km on a tandem on a very hot day than relax in a Finnish sauna, infrared cabin, Japanese baths, big jacuzzi and big swimming pool.
And you can use them all wearing "nothing". And that is an advance as you are traveling light.



A great hotel for cyclist!!
More information about Hotel Zuiderduin LINK