Before the big ride: a beer run!

12 July 2009 in Holland 2009, Netherlands, daily summary

So my quick summary of our five-day ride doesn’t mention that we went for a few rides in and around Oud-Ade before that trip. This post is about the first of those excursions.

To beer!

Just like in 2007, putting the bike together on the first day in Holland proved an excellent way of staying awake and starting to beat jet lag. The next day, after welcoming my brother to Oud-Ade, we went on a little ride through some of the neighboring towns, and picked up some local beer at the Landwinkel (farm store) in Rijpwetering. Here’s an overview of the route:

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And here’s some pictures. As always, click on any image to see bigger versions on Flickr:

Most of these are pretty self-explanatory, but I wanted to give a few extra words for the spectacular bit of civil engineering in the third. It’s the viaduct over the A4 speedway—not a tunnel for the cars so much as it is a bridge for the water (which happens to also have a bike lane, yay!) All told, we rode a meandering 20-odd kilometers in just under two hours, got a little sunburned, and generally had a lovely time. For more photos from that day, click here.