Den Haag to Haarlem

High temperatures have hovered in the mid-80’s – about as high as they get around here – for the past week. A few stray summer thunderstorms have passed quickly over Amsterdam, but skies have largely been clear. It looks like we’re in the middle of the elusive, unpredictable Dutch summer.

My friend Yoel, who lives in Utrecht and works in Tilburg (both cities in the Netherlands), suggested that we take a bike ride on Thursday, when the winds were forecast to be calm and the skies were forecast to be sunny. Since I’d taken a Northern route in my past few rides, I suggested that we take the train south to Den Haag and ride back north toward Amsterdam from there, along the North Sea coast.

So, after biking to Amsterdam Zuid (train station) and buying my train ticket– as well as the “supplement” for taking my bike on the train – I took the 40 minute trip from Amsterdam to Den Haag and met Yoel (who was coming from Utrecht) in Den Haag Central Station. After a bit of wandering through Den Haag, we found the correct bike path and were on our way north.

The path snaked from a few kilometers inland, where we were surrounded by grassy sand dunes, to roads that passed between the beach and seaside restaurants and hotels. The number of hotels and restaurants along the beach was remarkable; I’m guessing that there are no more than 30 days out of the year when the weather is sunny and warm enough to want to spend much time on the beach, yet apparently there is enough demand to keep business going.

The sun was indeed unusually warm and bright for the Netherlands, and, although I didn’t get a noticeable sun burn (in terms of red skin and pain), I have experienced some peeling since Thursday. Yoel and I stopped at the Jopen (one of the more famous Dutch craft breweries) brewery and restaurant for lunch and a beer in Haarlem and, after 55km in the saddle, we decided to take the train from Haarlem to Amsterdam rather than biking the addition 20km alongside the car filled highway.