maybe a map would help.

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The plan for today was simple - bike to the nearest town, do my interenet stuff, bike north to the longest dyke in the world (that may not actually be true, but its really long) cross it and then on to Leeuwarden - about 90km, but today was the day I learnt about the difficultues arising from a flat countryside and the dutch economy with signs.

I got to Memblik no worries but the internet store was closed, ok, so lets head north - hmm, no cycle signs for cities to the north, just these ones directing you to numbered intersections on biek routes (only useful if you have the map with the numbers - I tried to get it in Amsterdam but nobody had heard of it).

so, a lot of backforwad and forward through the flat feilds until I hit on a route north, whcih as luck would have it was into the wind today - prevailing wind is westerly, today it was whatever direction I was heading.

The dyke was amazing - 30km almost dead straight, just 2 kinks, you'll have to wait for pictures - half way across two braces of F-16s flew over me at about 100m, being my father's son, I thought that was pretty cool.

The dyke bike path was quite busy with people going both ways but things thinned out on the norhern side as I tried to get to Leeuwarden. Now, there was no even vaguely straight route to Leeuwarden but I didn't help matters by getting lost, and foregetting which muber intersection I was heading to, nor did the coditions help with missing direction signs and rain.

Got there in the end though, after 10 hours adn 120 kms. MY couchsurfing host was a german girl with dreadlocks whos passions in life are horses and the disabled, in that order. The old body is reasoanbly unhappy about all this biking but whenever I'm feeling sore I ask myself what my favourite Dutchy would say, and the Kees in my imagination always says 'sanson, you've clearly got harden the sanson up, sanson'. He's a strange boy that Kees - I keep seeing people with those same dutchy eyes.

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Comments

[Matt Fighter pilott]

Special Horse Access
You guys would have got along like a house on fire - not only are you disabled, but also somewhat horse-like. I base this on pure scientific non-fact. Photos please :) Esp the Falcons, nothing like some ordinance to cheer a soul up on a Monday morning.