Farewell to family.....

Monday afternoon we arrived in Peize at cousin Tjerkje's place. After supper we took a walk and surprised my aunt who lives in a nursing home here. She doesn't see well and we walked into her room and said hello. She knew right away who we were from our voices....she was thrilled that we had stopped by. Tuesday morning, Tjerkje and her friend, Jan went cycling with us and we stopped in at another aunt's place for coffee and then we cycled the surrounding area. Wonderful lush green farm land. The bike paths in Holland are so well laid out and make cycling easy. We stopped in Norg for "patat met" at lunch - delicous french fries with mayo for those who do not know what patat is. In the afternoon another cousin and her husband stopped by in Peize for tea so by now we have met up with all the relatives who are home. All that was left to do now in this area is check out my roots so Joe and I got up early on Wednesday morning and were on our bikes by 8:30 to make the trip to stad Groningen via Hoogkerk. Had to check out the house where I was born. It's still there, only it's a lawyer's office now. From there we went to Groningen - had to see the "Martini Tooren" and get a picture. It is so much easier to get to the "centrum" of any city by bike than car....By now it's coffee time and we do "koffie met appel tart" a la McDonalds. It tastes good no matter where you buy it. We cycle back to Peize in time to have lunch with Tjerkje and to pack up our bags and make our way back to the airport - a 2 hour drive. Along the way we make one last stop in Vries for a quick cup of tea with a cousin of Joe's. Bernie and Anna are already checked in at the IBIS where we are staying as well on Wednesday night. They are off to bed early since they have just arrived that day. We have acclimatized after spending 10 days in Holland. Thursday morning we are up early - the weather forecast was not good - rain and more rain. The forecasters were not wrong.
Let me suggest you follow the other blog that I will be posting on for most of the time. We are disappointed that WiFi is not as readily available as we had hoped. Most places charge outrageous prices for the use of it and time gets away on us as well. When we get into a motel/hotel in time for supper, it's a rush to try to get to a computer as well.
The other site is: http://cyclingeurope2010.blogspot.com -

Today it's Sunday already - most of the group left to go to church in Utrecht but there was not room in the 9 passenger van for 12 people so a few of us had to stay back so Joe, Peter and I volunteered. This gave me a chance to get caught up with the blogs.....

Trip down memory lane......

Well, we have had our weekend with Joe's relatives - on Sunday we were together with 20 of us at Jacob & Hillie's place in Dwingeloo - the birth place of Joe. There were 10 cousins there with their spouses....lots of good food, drink, and fellowship. We spent two days cycling in this area - one with Jacob and Hillie and one day with just the 2 of us. Tomorrow morning we will do a short trip by bike along with Joe's brother and sister in law from BC - Jake and Jenny - to visit the area where Joe's father was born. Cycling is just such a way of life here - ladies at least 20 years my senior are still biking, getting their groceries, going to church, etc. Bikes are parked everywhere and the electric bike has taken over here for those who have some health issues. You see some hard core cyclists here as well - they are decked out in cycling gear and are the only ones that wear helmets. Can't imagine seniors over 80 cycling where we live in Canada. The bike paths make it very easy to go everywhere without being on the busy roads. Mind you there are still bikes on the roads as well - we made a trip yesterday to the place where Joe's mom was from and we had competition on the road(s) with the vintage cars that were going there too. It did get a bit too busy for my liking. Sometimes the bike paths are on the roads so we have to share. Couples cycle along holding hands or holding an umbrella - I haven't mastered that yet. I told Joe to please not get too close - I love him but do not need to hold his hand while cycling. We did get caught in a rain shower yesterday again - t'was time for coffee so we stopped.
We took the scenic route yesterday so we could cycle "op the groote, stille heide" - once I get my camera cord organized, I will post some pictures. The heide has just started blooming...didn't come across the shepherd with his sheep but we did see a shepherd with his flock. Jake & Jenny arrived in Dwingeloo yesterday so we made arrangements to meet for a drink last evening just for the opportunity to talk English....it's tiring to speak Dutch when it's not your first language. I guess it is our first language but because we don't do it regularly, it's not the easiest for us.

Rain gear testing....

Well the "weather radar" this morning said there would be a shower at noon and for the rest the weather would be fine. We left at 11:00 on a route mapped out by cousin Jaap that would be about 60 km long - through the bush and we should be at a coffee shop (aka Tim Hortons)by noon so we should be able to stay dry. Needless to say, it took a bit to figure out the number system of all the bike routes and we were not at said coffee shop by noon so out came the rain gear - it works well and we looked like drowned rats when we stopped at a motel/hotel in Ede for a long awaited cup of coffee. Prices at Tim Hortons are cheap compared to what coffee costs here in Holland. Mind you it does come with a "free"cookie...to eat with the 3 swallows of coffee that you get....
We cycled through lots of beautiful countryside in the Bennekom area - lots to see and not enough time to see it all. We arrived back in Bennekom around 3:30 not having gone the 60 km. because we had another rain shower and had to get out the rain gear once again. I will admit that cycling in the rain is not much fun. Small towns in Holland are neat places to be in...the "vis maart" caravan shows up and parks in the middle of town and those loving fish can buy to their heart's content. Joe bought himself a "lekker bekkje" - he said it was delicious....I will try one later this week - I'm sure we will see more of this when the whole group arrives. Tomorrow we leave Bennekom to travel to the northern part of Holland - both Joe and I come from that area so we will check out our roots and visit with family there. A week tomorrow the whole group will be here...

Arrived....

We arrived at Schiphol just after noon on Monday - good flight from Toronto - slept quite a bit on the plane so were not too tired when we got there. Luggage was all there even though we had to wait quite a while for the bikes, Joe was getting a little worried that they were not coming. We got our rental car and were on the road by 2:00 arriving in Bennekom just after 3:00. By 8:00 p.m. we could hardly keep our eyes open so we headed off to bed - hit the pillow and we were gone. By 1:00 a.m. we were both awake, read a while and fell back to sleep - Joe was up by 8:00 and I slept right through until 9:00. It's a bit overcast today - the bikes have been put together but we are not going out today. Tomorrow it promises to be better cycling weather so we will head out then.


We did a walking tour earlier today and will take a car ride in the countryside this afternoon.....the top picture is at a war cemetery in Grebbeberg where there are many Canadian soldiers buried. The picture with cows is one that Jacob took and put into a steel window case that came from the old family (deWeerd) homestead in Dwingeloo. The bottom two photos show some of the many figures that grace the downtown Bennekom area.

Last minute details......

The list is getting shorter - just a few things to attend to yet before departure. Having a late night departure gives you another day to finish what needs to be done. This way I am home yet for my mother's 87th birthday - she will be in bed way before we head out of Toronto airport. There will be another blog up and running that will be more generic in terms of everyone being able to post on it so will not be as personal as this one. That will be the address that the friends and family of the "Group of 16" will leave for those who want to follow us. The address for that one is http://cyclingeurope2010.blogspot.com - we just hope that wireless access is available all over Europe....
I did get out for a short ride this morning - thought my chiropractor's appointment was for noon - it was at 10:15 instead so had to do a quick ride. Joe says he can wait until tomorrow to pack up the bikes so will do another ride yet tomorrow morning. Adrian did buy a new bike so him and Joe went out for a good ride this morning. Adrian has become stiff competition for Joe going up those hills - Joe used to be faster up those hills....

Four more sleeps.....

Last minute details to get done yet….clothes to pack….bikes to box….it will all get done – there are still four days before we head to the airport to begin our adventure. Flying at 11:00 p.m. gives you a whole long, last day. Gotta get a few bike runs in yet too…Joe and Adrian cycled to Port Dover yesterday in the heat, I had to drive to be their support vehicle. It was a 66 km ride from Ancaster. Adrian even tried out a new bike….

The Countdown Is On.....

Twelve more sleeps and we will be heading off to Amsterdam on the brink of our European Adventure. We have planned it so we can do our visiting with our relatives before our actual "Bike Tour" begins. This way we have adjusted to the time difference and can do some cycling on the roads of Holland to get used to the type of cycling we will be doing for three weeks when the rest of the group arrives. The group of sixteen have all been involved with one or both of the SeatoSea tours and the NewZealand tour that we were part of. Everyone is from Ontario except for John who hails from Alberta. Anna will be our capable "support vehicle" driver - the other 15 are cyclists and we will take turns riding with Anna for company and to help navigate. The SAG vehicle needs to be there for us to carry our belongings from place to place. We will all make our own way to Amsterdam at different times and will meet up with each other at Schiphol the morning of August 26th for our adventure to begin.