Hierden is a farming village in the centre-east of Netherlands. It is in the province of Gelderland. Before Euros Dutch money was Gelders, so this must be a rich province lol. This is our destination today.
Our host Sandra had a nice breakfast ready for us at 8:15 am. We were all packed up as we need to leave by 9 am. Our cousin Margreeth has planned our route for us today. The first 20 km we do on our own to get to Zwolle where she lives. Margreeth sent us a QR code of the route (the number system) , and it put it into the app i downloaded Fietsknoop, and we set it on gps. Wow we finally got it! We could see exactly where we were, where we had to go, and it talked to us to tell us. It was a nice cycle. When we got into Zwolle there were two beautiful artistic bridges to greet us. Also when we got to Margreeth’s house we met one of her twins for the first time and Arjan her husband. Also Tante Johanna was there, Cousin Carolien and Guido amd 6 minth old Yagil. We had some lekker coffee and a dutch treat made with the dutch colors!
We had a big crew cycling with us today! Fun! Carolien picked up Tante Johanna on a double bike, one that Carolien has to steer but Tante Johanna may still peddle if she likes. They rent it very cheap from the retirement apartment where Tante Johanna lies. So great that they have bikes like this so no matter what age or disability you can still keep active. And Yagil rode with them strapped to Carolien! It was so nice seeing Tante Johanna. She actually is our last surviving aunt in the Netherlands (she is my dad’s sister). It was such a pretty cycle to the first town of Hattem. We cycled along the Ijssel River. Ome Hank and Tante Johanna were Skippers and lived on a boat and often was on the Ijssel, and was proud to tell us about it. Not long ago Tante Johanna wrote out a story sharing her and my dad and their family’s experience in the war. We had it translated in English and it was very nice as our parents are no longer here to share. It was quite something for our 91 year old aunt to be cycling with us! That is my goal – to be cycling forever! Carolien, Guido, Yagil and Tante all turned back after we reached Hattem which was about 20 km. and Margreeth and Arjan continued on with us. They took us through the Veluwe, the mountains of Netherlands. It was through forests, 60 km from north to south, reaching heights of up to 110 meters. In the middle of the forest we stopped for lunch. And we had another surprise Cousin Jan and Monique were there waiting for us to join for lunch. how nice!
We then stopped at a watch tower and Margreeth , Janet and climbed to the top, while those afraid (I will not mention any names! lol) stayed below.
We arrived 5:30 at our B & B, 79 km later and 5 and 1/2 hours of cycling. Wow! what a great day!
We are in the country, staying in a two bedroom cottage and are surrounded by donkeys, and horses, and cats and dogs, etc. The place is very unique and they also have a tea room inside and out that travellers visit for a short stop. We wanted to get dinner and pick up some wine, only to find the one store in town was closed at 5 p.m. So, we cycled to the next town 4 km away! Phew! We actually had left over pizza from the night before so went back to our place and sat and enjoyed the outdoors, and then heated up pizza for dinner. Janet made us a nice treat, fried bananas (Tante Johanna gave them to us) with melted chocolate. yum!
The breakfast they served us in the morning was A++ We found this place two years ago, and loved the decorated outside rural area, as well that they are the parents of two athletic accomplished sons, who both grew up here. Theo Bos dutch cyclist, olympic silver medalist and 5 time world campion; and Jan Bos dutch speed skater who was the world champion in the late 1990’s, and competed in the olympics 1998, 2002, and 2010 in Vancouver Olympics where he won Silver! They are both very proud of their sons as they should be.
But today we leave our lovely and relaxing country retreat and will cycle to Spakenburg.
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