Day24: Long Drive To Netherlands. Lake House, Reeuwijk.

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Today we are driving to the land of channels and dykes, The Netherlands.

I buried my head in some online courses and podcasts on the way here, as until you get close to the Netherlands , it’s all pretty much the same as what we’ve seen in France. The drive took 4 hours, including a toilet/ snacks break at a Service Station. The system with the toilets is practical. You pay 80 cents at a turnstile , receive a receipt and the green light, and when you return to the shop, your receipt is a discount card for any purchases. No pulling in for a Free-Wee; its a pretty fair system.

The landscape is covered with corn crops, and the usual low lying green salad crops, but extensive glass houses are also prevalent due to the colder seasons. We spotted some truffle orchards, with neat rows of oak trees, being pruned, and one had a man and his dog carefully scanning the rows for that brown gold.

The countryside in Belgium and The Netherlands is dotted with spinning windmills, generating power, and once you reach the Netherlands, channel’s and dykes are what keeps everyone above the waterline. In 1605, the English navigator, Henry Hudson, must have bought the land for a song, and then worked out how to drain or block the water from entering the floodplains. In the area of Gouda where we are staying the result is amazing. Small cottages line the Lake, and the narrow lily lined canals that flow off it, store two or three boats and canoes for each house. The Lake seems to be the life force of the community, and provides a pretty backdrop from wherever you view it.

Natalia regrets not bringing her swimsuit, but by the look of the water, you might get more than a swim for your money. She might be lucky she left it at home. Many of the boats are traditional wooden planked yachts with low sheer planks at the top for easy access . A couple have come back to their moorings, puttputting their way ito this tiny inlet.

Across the Lake is a botanical garden, and there are 2 or 3 villages nearby that have the older style of houses and windmills, just like Holland, so they will be worth investigating.

Well, its been a quiet day, but if I can hold off the urgency to go for dinner, I will get some lovely sunset pics across the water. Don’t hold your breath.

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Photos

Best I Could Do.
Lost the sun behind the clouds.