This time, I started my journey from Zaandam. A place I still call home in my heart. A place where I grew up. Before I could get on the bike, a few curious people came and asked where I am heading to. Some were amazed of the 2k kilometers that I may take towards Santiago.
First heading to Haarlem by taking the ferry from Zaandam to Amsterdam, for the ‘official’ start of the route. Got my first stamp there at the Bavo church on my credential. Yes, this time I have my credential with me 😉
Then I took the coastal line in the dunes. A bit of height differences. Ok, only a few meters. Taking in the fact that it’s flat here in the Netherlands, those are the hills 😉
The weather is perfect today. Sunshine. Little wind. And not so busy in the streets as well as in the nature. Not even so chilly as it should be in February! Last but not the least, the sun went down later than begin January, which gives me a bit more time to cycle 🙂 🙂 A happy day!
The dunes in Noordwijk is quite beautiful. I was wondering why I haven’t been there before. On some part, I got the feeling that, due to the pine trees, it could be somewhere high on a mountain. But of course, it may even below the sea level.
Another beautiful discovery on the route is Leiden. I have been there before, but not the area I came across today.
What contributed to this feeling of a beautiful day is of course the weather, which is good, sunshine the whole day. There was a bit of side-headwind, but quite soft. I didn’t follow the whole route, detoured somewhere half way to reach a camping which is not quite on the route.
As a bonus, this camping is well located with some beautiful sight. Only thing that I am still having troubles is the Primus burner. Good news is that after some 2 hours, I had my spaghetti as dinner! Yippie 😂
Weather on day 3 started cloudy. Fortunately no rain. Biggest challenge was to get out of the greater Rotterdam area, with all those industrial zones. My route crossed also Barendrecht and Zwijndrecht.
After that, the sun started to sparkling. I did a total of 50+ kilometers, but felt tired at the end. Though I was already at the camping around 4pm. Took a nice shower, went to the supermarket near and bought something nice. Problem with the Primus burner again. Guess it’s time to try something else…
When woke up in the morning on day 4, I hear raindrops on my tent. Weather forecast predicted rain the whole day. So I decided to take a ‘rest’ day today, as this camping has also this nice hut with many books to read, and a place to relax.
When I ask whether prolonging my stay is possible, the father of the owner said it is 20 euro. I wondered how come that yesterday was much cheaper. Is that the Camino? Yes indeed. When he knows that I am on the Camino, he even refused to accept money and gave me some changes for the shower. I was perplexed and grateful at the same time.
I am happy to have this experience. Like my Camino nearly 3 years ago, when I started in Lourdes where I was only in those places with credentials. It was a kind of bubble and I took those for granted. It’s really because of those warm-hearted people who make these possible. How many other things in life do we take for granted?
The weather was not so bad at all. At the end of the day, I cycled some 60+ kilometers. However without the luggages. And, important too, not to break and setup the tent ;).
Regarding the cooking: within 2 hours, only 20+ matches, I managed to have hot food! So, a little progress is there. The lesson today is to clean the burner each time after use. Anyway, I guess I need to see some instructions for the deep cleaning of the burner in order to improve the cooking time… Step by step…
The next destination will be Antwerpen, where there is a pilgrims lodgement in the city center. It’s not on the route, but I am quite looking forward to this…
This time, I passed the border to Belgium in some 150 km to 175 km.