Willemstad to the ferry.

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Tuesday.

As we only had 32 miles to get back to the ferry we didn't leave the hotel until 11.00. It was a quick trip to Jumbo to get picnic goodies. In the supermarket as I was paying I realised the cashier had put the man behind me things through as well. When I told her this she took some back and corrected the bill. When we later stopped to eat our yoghurt there was only one so she must have taken one back as well as his things. Then we were off, leaving via the marina. Soon after leaving Willemstad it was across the Haringvliet bridge to get from North Brabant to South Holland. At 1500 metres long it seemed to go on forever. We were on a side road with no other traffic on it. It was closed off at the end and Paul was worried we wouldn't get through but I remembered I had read some lanes were closed off to reduce the weight of traffic going over at any one time. The bridge was built in the 60s and is due to have extensive repairs as it is feared it won't cope with the ever increasing volumes of traffic using it. Fortunately it wasn't windy.

At Nieuw Beijerland we had another ferry to catch across the River Spui. We literally rode straight onto it and it set off. The lady collected our money, €1.90, and we were at the other side. It was quite a large ferry that took cars and small lorries as well. It was called 'The Queen Jacqueline'.

Soon after this we had our yoghurt and nuts sat on a bench across from a very new train/metro station which was very colourful. The track was raised up above the ground and all the pillars holding it up were painted in different colours and patterns.

The last twelve miles were along the top of a dyke, surrounded by swans, Canadian geese and sheep, and back to Europoort. The first eight miles or so were very quiet. The river on our right was very busy with barges going to and from the port. Then we crossed the river and so for the last few miles we were close to one of the main roads , going to the port, and it was quite noisy but we were on a dedicated bike path so thete was no danger from traffic.

We were looking for a bench but arrived at Europoort before we found one. By this time it was three o'clock. We ate lunch sat right across from the Pride of Rotterdam. We were literally about 50 metres from the front of it. After a slight detour to the main port building we went through passport controls. We were directed right to the front of the queue and told to board before the cars did. We had no waiting around at all and the passport control officer was very friendly.

As we were riding to passport control we met another cyclist. He was from Lancaster. He had flown out to Pisa and cycled to Milan, over the San Gottard Pass to Basle and back to Rotterdam via Luxembourg . We have cycled Rotterdam to Milan on a very similar path except we didn't go through Luxembourg.

Once on board it was a shower , followed by a coffee and dinner later. Then it was up to the Sky Lounge to listen to the guitarist.

768 miles in total.

Wednesday.

After an early wake up call we were off the ferry for 8.00am. When the door of the ferry opened the three sports cars we were stood behind all started to rev their engines. Paul asked the ferry attendant if the bikes couid go first so we wouldn't choke to death so they let us leave first. There were five bikes in total. It was a lovely but cool morning as we cycled back to collect the car in shorts and sandals.

Another successful trip completed.

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