A super quiet night on our little island and we woke to another marvellous looking day, with higher temps forecast as Europe and UK are experiencing heatwave conditions. Summer still days away.

A later breakfast today at 8.30 am delivered to us by our host.

Getting out of Giethoorn was far easier than our arrival, and we should have entered this way given our host is close to the ‘far end’.

It was 24C already and we appreciated the shade from many forests we rode through today.

We ride through very quiet areas today including the Drents Friese Wold National Park. Amazing to have these wonderful trails making the parks so accessible to many.

Drenthe is a Dutch province. It has one of the lowest populations, but during the Bronze Age, the most populated.

Today there are major tracts of agriculture and national parks.

This map shows the cycle paths through the province. Fiets is the Dutch word for bikes.

Quiet villages. The heat was over bearing without the shade of trees.

Another stinking hot passage through open fields but the flowers are out, and pretty.

We did about 5 km through this open section of fields.

Stopping in the town of Norg we made our way to the supermarket. Tony’s request included a refrigerated can of something fizzy.

Found a can of cola, not his usual brand, plus our usual sparkling water, and a Gatorade style drink. Also grabbed tubes of quark (higher protein dairy product) and bananas.

We found some shade under a tree, just as a group of school children approached. We checked with the teacher, all ok to sit there.

We consumed our food, well most of it.

Tony told me his cola tasted a bit ‘funny’. He’d drunk half of it, and we looked at the can more closely. I had inadvertently bought one with 7% alcohol in it 🙈. That does not happen at home at the supermarket!

Right near the checkout too, where we’d have confectionary.

Anyhow we laughed, poured it out.

Rob is the school teacher of this class of curious kids. They were practising for a music event.

One young lad was super keen to let us know his dad owned the bike shop in town, which we did note as we departed town. The pride in his voice ❣️

There was another young girl who peeped my curiosity. She stood by closely, very observant but shyer. Looks like a wonderful young person and you gave to have confidence in the future with such kids.

Rob was super friendly, and a fellow cyclist. He had recently been cycling in the Ardennes (an area we touch on our return via Belgium, Luxembourg, France). He had the farmers arms to prove it too.

This interaction was a highlight of the day. Meeting locals, by chance, finding common ground.

As Rob pointed out, Tasmania is named after a Dutch man too!

We needed to move on, with about 38 km remaining.

I felt as dry as this!

I liked this little building adjacent to a small canal, deep in the forest.

More forest. The shade was valuable. Many paths today were paved with narrow pavers in herringbone pattern. It is rough as in your bum and not as smooth as cement or tar. This section was smooth though.

Tulips. There were big irrigators out and I hoped we’d get wet. No such luck.

We had a larger town to get through.

Groningen is regarded as the capital of the north, and we are in far north Netherlands. A city of around 250,000, and larger metro of 500,000 it was quite busy.

On the outskirts are canals with modern homes.

In the centre we rode through Stadspark, a substantial tract of forests, lakes, fountains and people.

Then there was this wonderful family. Dad at the front honking, not impressed with any other users. Looking super proud.

Nice canal areas.

Another park.

The last 11 km was very open, no shade. There is a dedicated path to Winsum. It was quite busy with bikes ploughing up and down.

Our overnight is in a loft above a bakery. It is a wonderful conversion. The air conditioner was on and the room cool.

A lovely rear deck that dried our washing in no time.

We wandered into the village centre, all of about 30 metres away to find food,

We had an amazingly nice dinner, sitting outside watching the cyclists everywhere. Kids dinking their friends, people heading home from work, others with groceries.

The main canal.

Nice windmill with the Dutch flag colours.

We then found a supermarket and another canal.

Here I am now, sitting on the back deck at 9 pm. Cool.

Tomorrow the temperatures drop. Will be nice but not as hot thankfully.

We head to the very north tomorrow, then around the coast,with a special guest.

93 km today, 1170 km total.

Thanks for reading ❣️😊🚴