Workum to Harlingen

Before starting our day of cycling, when we left Workum, we cycled around a bit to check out more of the city. We found the 11 cities fountain, the two lions.

The 11 cities Fountain in Workum. The two lions spray water at each other, kind of like fighting. You get a great view in the middle of them with the city behind.

The square where the Folkers restaurant is.

We cycled through Parrega. We were here in this small village 12 years ago when Barts Aunt and Uncle drove us through it. We remembered they told us that Bart’s Pake’s was born here. At the time, they showed us the house where he was born. I remember they told us that when the skating Elfstedentocht would come by their house they would be out on the ice with hot chocolate etc for the skaters.

Speaking of the Elfstedentocht cycle this year, happening this Monday May 25th, there will be 15,000 cyclists participating from all over the world. They cycle the whole 240 km in one day, what we did in 7 days. Monday is a holiday in the Netherlands and it is going to be nice weather – I can imagine the excitement in all the 11 cities as all the cyclists come through.

I don’t think in the 1900’s there would have been 15,000 skaters coming by, but there would have been a lot and it must have been excitement for this small village. I googled current population and it is 490. The first race was in 1909 and there were 22 skaters in the race. Not 7 finished within the official time. The winner was Minnie Hoekstra who completed the 190 km route in 13 hours and 50 minutes. Wow!

The house behind us is where Barts Pake (grandfather) was born.

The side if the house. Bart’s great Pake was the blacksmith in town in the late 1800’s and this was his house and shop. It is right in the middle of the town.

Some family history here – Doede Ennes de Jong (the villains blacksmith) was born April 5, 1855 and died Nov 18, 1940. He was not buried here but his wife was – Janke Hessels de Jong born 1857 and died and buried in Parrega in Jan 1857.

It was a neat experience that we were walking in our ancestors footsteps.

The town of Arkum was 4 large farms. Literally you cycled in and passed 4 farms all close together and then you were back out. I googled population. 25 to 30 people.

We saw so many sheep and cows and horses while cycling. I took this pic as the black sheep always catches your eye. I thought lots about that black sheep for the next 10/15 minutes while I cycled, about whether he felt a part of the flock, did he like standing out, was he refusing to fit in, was he the rebel, did the other sheep like him…LOL funny…and if he only knew how much attention he got from me that day.

Bolsward. We stopped and watched this crew lay this brick road. Incredible how quickly they lay them out and how they work in a team.

We stopped and sat on the patio outside of the city hall for coffee and lekker apple pie.

Bolsward was really nice. We stopped and had a morning break here. we can tell the weather is trying to warm up. Yay! But we still have to wear layers – tshirt, sweater and jacket. Bart and I bought Canada jerseys and we were hoping to wear them but it hasn’t been warm enough, and no sense putting them on, only to cover it with your coat.

The city hall. This is where stopped for coffee. You can see me waving from the patio.

The Broerkerk in Bolsward was right beside the 11 cities fountain. It was destroyed by fire in the 1980’s. They were able to save the facade and the walls. They put a roof on it. The have it as a monument that you can walk through, and they also use it as an event space, and looks like for weddings, etc too .