The North Sea

Ossenbrecht to Middelburg to Ouddorp

Day 75 - Friday - August 26
The thunderstorm started while we were eating breakfast so we worked on a blog post and waited it out.

It was dry when we left but that didn't last more than 20 minutes, just long enough for us to be outside town.

This was our sound of the day. We were so close to these that we could hear the blades slicing through the air.

There was one bike route sign missing at a critical turn. We realized our problem when we reached a dead end at the freeway and the sign for entering Belgium was only 100 feet away.

The road had a LOT of mud on the pavement so we really got dirty, the muddiest we've been this whole trip. We also chased a rabbit and flushed some grouse.

Back to clean but wet pavement.....maybe some of this stuff will wash off in the rain.

We think these were onions being harvested. We weren't going to walk through the mud to make sure.

Thank goodness for washable, waterproof panniers!

Flat tire #4 just after buying lunch at the local market in Waarde.

Henre Jacques stopped to warn us about high prices at the local market then stayed until Doug had his bike back together. He is 83 years old and a retired teacher of physics, chemistry and German. He even invited us home to patch the tire and seemed a little disappointed that we had our own supplies.

We found this shelter on top of the dike to eat our lunch out of the wind. That is the North Sea in the background.

We had a tailwind almost all afternoon so we didn't feel as beat up as these propellers.

The prop was from a B24 that crashed near here in 1944. Several crewmembers were POWs until the war ended and 2 escaped with the help of local people. It was displayed at a small museum in Nisse. Our hotel in Middelburg had a hose for Doug to clean the bikes, panniers and our shoes so all it right with our world again.

Day 76 - Saturday - August 27
Sunshine....what a concept!

Pumpkins already?

We were making good time through Veere when we came around a corner right into the middle of this jousting competition.....serendipity strikes again....we just had to stop.

The objective is to skewer the 2 inch metal ring hanging about a foot below that bar with the lance.

All ages were taking part.

Succeesful competitors drop the ring into the assistant's hand.....carefully.

This picture truly captures the intensity of the rider and the power and discipline of the horse.

Yep.......it's raining again. We aren't whining, we're just reporting the facts. And this bridge did show up just in the nick of time. We were there with several other cyclists and a couple of motorscooters. Scooters are often required to use the same paths as bikes in The Netherlands. It makes for some interesting right-of-way dilemmas.

Looks like more rain on the horizon. Time to zip up.

This is a huge flood control structure over the North Sea. There is a gate in between each of those towers that can be lowered to keep the tide at bay during a major flood event.

This sign says that happens about once a winter. Otherwise, ocean life on the east side of the gates is unaffected by the presence of all that metal and concrete. 

Fortunately we had a substantial tailwind on our way across the 8 mile long structure.

These guys had a headwind. That's why they were going slow enough for us to get a picture.

A cafe's way of inviting cyclists to visit.

It isn't flat out here, it isn't straight and it isn't paved...this is going to be interesting. Is my Co-Motion a mountain bike in disguise?

Maybe! Thank goodness for 32mm tires.

This time the heavy rainshower found us in town. Doug was shopping for pants in the store so Donna used this handy clothing rack for shelter. Doug says she is a bargain even at full price.

Now we have a west wind ..read that as a crosswind and not a light one either. It was much better for kite-boarding.

Coastal traffic circle art

Our campground's reception closed before we arrived and ONLY reception could issue laundry tokens. Doug found another campground down the road that let us use their laundry facility. It was a good time to journal and work on pictures for the blog.

Our tiny tent in a generous corner lot. Lots of grass....very wet but clean grass.