We awoke to a calm morning with bright sun and clear skies. Clouds began to build up in the skies again in the middle of the day with threatening winds and a bit of rain in afternoon, which we mostly missed.

Here are some photos of the Shagen castle hotel, where we stayed – behind the main hotel. There has been a castle on the site since 1394, but it fell into ruin and was torn down in 1820, apart from two towers. The current castle was built in 2001, incorporating the original towers to preserve them.

     

Esther decided to ride with us to Amsterdam and to find a train back to Bern from there. Our route took us from Shagen to Zijdewind, Meerhugowaard, Stompetoren, Grootschermer, De Rijp, Oost Graf Dijk, where we struggled to find a way around the canal, we ended up in Zaandam where we took a free ferry to Amsterdam city.

By the end of the day we clocked up 74 km. There were cycle paths all the way into the city.

This ride was more urban, with more houses and people. There were also lots of cabbage fields – green, red and blue. Lots of little moats running through the fields everywhere. Some of the small towns are very beautiful, with the well kept houses and canals we are coming to expect in Holland.

We saw lots of storm damage as we rode along, broken branches and trees snapped in two.

This storm damage is in Amsterdam.