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We took some photos of the Stayok at Heemskerk (a converted medieval castle) before we left in the morning.

Views of the Stayok Hostel at Heemskerk
On route we travelled on this small self operated chain ferry. Ferries like this are common in the Netherlands due to the many inland waterways.

A chain Ferry on route to Amsterdam
Later we passed through Edam, famous of course for its cheese.

View of the Cheese Museum, Edam, and a bridge decorated with flowers
Of course, we could not resist a stop at this pretty waterside cafe as we neared Amsterdam after a day’s riding…

Cafe on the outskirts of Amsterdam

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We had an enjoyable and attractive ride today, with excellent weather, via the picturesque town of Haarlem to Heemskerk.

We stopped in Haarlem to look around St Bavo’s church, which dates from the 7th century AD and is in beautiful condition.

Views of St Bavo’s church

The aisle of the church, the church organ, and a stained glass window
Later on the ride to Heemskerk we came across this interesting World War II Bunker that has been converted into a cafe, and stopped for a drink.

A World War II bunker converted into a cafe
The ride went slightly pear shaped at the end when one of the girls in the group had an accident and wrecked a front wheel – thankfully only sustaining slight injury in the process. We also lost our way and ended up doing a 10 mile detour. The routes for this charity ride are normally excellently waymarked with arrrows stuck on posts and sign poles at key points, but there is always the ever present risk of sabotage by those local folk who do not like charity rides or who have some other axe to grind. We suspect that this was the cause in our case as the marker arrows suddenly dried up!

We eventually reached the Stayok Hostel at iHeemskerk – a converted medieval castle. As we arrived late this evening, photos of the castle will have to wait until tomorrow, as dinner definitely took priority over photos!

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We have just returned from a very pleasant hour or so on the beach near Noordwijk, watching the sun go down…

Watching the sun go down on the beach near Noordwijk

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Stayok are a major hostel chain in the Netherlands, and we have been very imrpressed with them. Our first stop is the one at Noordwijk. It was our favourite on the ride last year.

View of the garden at the Stayok, Noordwijk

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