Day 20: Amsterdam to Kinderdijk

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Leaving the city of Amsterdam we headed off towards Rotterdam to call in at a place called Kinderdijk, an area of canals and windmills that Pam wanted to see. Kinderdijk is some 20k south of Rotterdam and after an event less we arrived there around 1.30, there were no campgrounds around so we searched for a place to free camp for the night. We found this great little place in a car park for the ferry at Alblasserdam, set well back off the road and alongside the canal. To find it you turn left off the main road to Kinderdijk around 200m meters from the town square. After that we headed off to the canals for Pam to take some pics, it was a very cool spot and well worth the trip there. The 19 windmills there date back to the 1740’s and were built to drain the low lying lands adjacent to the village and its associated industry, while an electric pump station now does the job, ALL of the windmills still operate fully and can if required still pump the water. Pam found the elusive Great Crested Grebe to photograph as well so a bonus there. The canals in Holland and especially around Rotterdam are used in a big way for the transport of goods and barges and boats of all shapes and sizes ply the canals sometimes 6 and 7 at a time, these boats are low to fit under the bridges and wide and some very long to carry the goods, you even see barges being pushed by a tug, that is pushed and not towed, ha ha only n Holland. Off to bed early as a long day tomorrow, we have decided to drive straight through to Paris tomorrow and skip Belgium, around 450kms all up.

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