Navigational Challenges

I have wanted to visit Browerij de Molen, which reputable sources suggest is (by far) the best brewery in the Netherlands. De Molen is in Bodegraven, a small town about 25 miles south of Amsterdam. My friend (British) Kat suggested some outdoors activity for the weekend, and I mentioned that a brewery trip has been on the to do list for a while. And a plan was born.

I took my road bike out of the attic, made sure it was in working order after a winter in storage, and sketched out a cycling route online. In addition to having bike friendly cities, the Netherlands has a network of cycle paths that allow you to bike long distances in between cities. The trails are generally well marked, paved, and well maintained. The weather was supposed to be sunny, if cool (highs around 50 degrees), after a week of drizzle, so the day was set up to be a success. We would leave from Utrecht, which is about 18 miles from the brewery.

I paid six euros (in addition to the five euro ticket) to carry my bike with me on the train to Utrecht. Kat and I then set off for de Molen. It only took us ten minutes to hit our first navigational pothole - we turned right about a half mile before we were supposed to, and we were headed in the wrong direction within Utrecht. Retrospectively, this set the tone for the rest of the day.

From a bridge in Utrecht.

We thought that we'd correctly corrected our course. But, an hour after biking through small towns, windmills, and streams, we saw a sign that said IJsselstein, which is ten kilometers south of Utrecht. South being a direction that would not get us closer to de Molen.

We tried some course corrections with Google Maps in my cell phone. But the map led us to a 60km/hr road without a bike lane (high speed for the size of the road and the part of the country we were in), and we realized that we could wander around for an hour before finding our way back to the bike path. And, even if we were to find the correct path, we'd never make it to the brewery in time for the 2:30pm tour.

So, with some grumpiness and disappointment, we made our way back to Utrecht. We stopped in one of the small towns for ice cream, which soothed much of the frustration. In all, we biked 35 kilometers in a circle instead of 32 in a straight line. And we managed to buy some de Molen beer at a beer store in Utrecht. So the day did not end up a total failure.

And now a second attempt is in the works.

This was a typical scene from the ride: a futile navigational stop.