Day 7 - Hoogezand
This morning as I was cleaning my teeth I realise that my standard "index" image for my index page was too universal if I was to keep on using it so I asked ChatGPT to create a more suitable one. I was pleased with the result.
As the Netherlands is a watery country I often hear a comical frog chorus in the morning and that was especially true this morning.
The first photo I post automatically gets picked up and used as the cover shot for the post so I try and vary them. A scan of posts should then offer a representative sample and not be simply windmills. So let's start with scenery today.
I noted earlier in the tour that the Netherlands has imported the Dartmoor pony.
You might get able to see in the two photos above that some cycleways are constructed from concrete slabs. These are laid to provide a smooth surface and if an 8mm lip is created due to tree roots someone will grind down the concrete so it is smooth. The cycling is a joy.
There are stones to mark a burial site. Given we are in the lowlands with no obvious rock formations a natural question is where did the boulders come from. I am glad you asked! The boulders came from Scandinavia and - before you ask how the ancients transported them - they were carried down by glaciers and then hidden from view just below the surface of the fertile soil ready and waiting to be used to create a hunebed.
Speaking of fertile soil, I have missed the tulip season but the foliage is still visible out in the fields.
Despite the poor weather today (rain and passing thunderstorms) I divert to take in a windmill and a rather grand one.
I rather rattled through Groningen due to the poor weather and tricky cycling conditions caused by nusy Groningen and numerous cycleway works. However, I did see enough to look forward to my return for parkrun on Saturday; today is Wednesday.
Coming into Hoogezand I wonder why I am stopping here as the approach is industrial. Of course my stops are sometimes driven by distances, accomodation, getting to parkruns and getting home in a timely manner. I am early, cycle through Hoogezand then back again to kill time. By this time I am drier, warmer and feeling better about Hoogezand. My host meets me at the door, makes coffee while she cooks and we eat together and talk. The Friends of Cyclists network is excellent and it isn't too difficult to take a cue from your host on whether they want to chat or just leave you alone.
On cycle tours my bike ends up in unlikely places such as a boiler room, a hotel dining room, a conference room, a Chinese Take Away, a chemist's shop, and an artist's studio to name ones that jump out. Tonight my bike stays in a pedicurist's parlour.
I haven't said anything about the cycle infrastructure. Suffice to say it is as good as people say even when you stray off the national cycle routes. Road and cycleway surfaces are excellent as mentioned earlier. I am pleased I have a cycle satnav now as the visible map helps me to navigate the combined road and cycle path junctions in a way that voice instructions from my phone couldn't match.
