Day 42 – Mon 21 Jul 14, Rotterdam to The Hague (the Netherlands)
Forecast: 18-21 deg C, partly sunny with late thunderstorms; Listed distance: 27km; Actual distance: 26km; Cumulative distance: 1722km; Av speed: 12.3 km/h; Max speed: 24 km/h; Rotterdam: 20 deg C; The Hague: 20 deg C; Start time: 8:45am; Stop time: 12:30pm; Ride time: 2h03m
Another day of particularly nasty weather! A dreary day greeted us as we woke in our very expensive new room with air con. Our weather app told us 'early fog clearing to a sunny day'. It lied, 'early fog getting colder as the day progressed with rain in the afternoon' it should have read. We ended up digging out our rain jackets on the way to The Hague to keep the cool headwind out of our bones.
Another
decent breakfast of cooked & cold, everything you'd want and more. They even had little boxes of chocolate
granules or shavings (locally known as mouse shit) in four varieties/colours.
The locals put it on their toast – pure decadence! Then it was time to
pack up and hit the road. We only had
27km to ride so didn't want to rush as we knew check-in time was not until 2pm
in The Hague.
Although
it was overcast it was quite warm at 20 deg C and we both had to remove our
singlets before setting off. Greg did
his out in the street, but Wendy ducked back into the hotel entrance! Not only was there a cycle path right outside
our motel door but it was number 17, the one we needed to start our ride to The
Hague. We could say we planned it that way but we didn't. It was only
about 3km until we were on the outskirts of Rotterdam on another well sign
posted cycle path. Unfortunately we had
a screaming headwind which made the short ride a lot less pleasant. An average speed of just over 12 km/h is
pretty slow!! But then again, we were in
no hurry!
We stopped
in Delft for a wee stop, to have mornos and just check the place out. Souvenir shops dominated the Town Square with
most of them selling Delft crockery or genuine imitations of! There was one shop that said it sold the real
deal. As we were on the bikes we
declined to partake in the purchase of anything. Neither of us were
particularly fond of the designs anyway. Delft is famous for its Delft Pottery, (blue
stuff), 11-13th century town square and houses, its association with the Dutch
Royals and the painter Johannas Vermeer. It is also famous for an explosion in the
gunpowder store on 12 Oct 1654 which ignited 30 tonnes of the stuff and wiped
out half the town. We spent a pleasant hour or so wandering around the square
and narrow back streets. On a bright day
it would be a photographer's paradise.
It was only another 8km to The Hague from Delft and we took our time, stopping
to watch bridges swing sideways instead of upwards to let barges and big boats
through. We arrived in The Hague about
12:30pm and as it was a bit too early to check in we sat in the Town Square and
ate our lunch. As we had no idea where
the hotel was, we checked Google Maps only to discover we were sitting in its
shadow, so to speak. We checked-in to
the Mercure Den Haag Central about 1pm. Although
it was an hour early, our room was ready; a large room, in a 4* hotel, with a
nice view of the Town Square, air con, tea/coffee making facilities and
breakfast included in the room price. All
for less than what we paid for the 3* hotel in Rotterdam - bargain!!
The
city is a mix of old and new. The old
dating back to 1230, while the new seems to be happening at a pace with lots of
building sites scattered around. It is
the seat of the Dutch Government, Parliament and Supreme Court but is not the
capital. It's written in the
constitution that Amsterdam is the capital. The International Court of Justice and the
International Criminal Court are both located here, giving it an important role
in world affairs.
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