Day 3, August 26, 2012 Zaandam to Alkmaar: 29.4 miles
LOW AND RAINY
This is our cabin.  Good thing that Paul and I like each other or this space would be way too small. Since we packed light for this trip, we have made everything, including ourselves, fit nicely

 This tour has csme routine to it.  All of us have been assigned to a table with fellow cyclists.  We eat our meals with Jan and Anne Marie from Sweden and Mieke from Holland.  They all speak English so we have had some lively conversations. Each evening the coordinator, Wilhemena describes the route first in German, then Dutch and finally in English.  We are quite impressed.  And Paul is happy because she advises where all the coffee and goodies can be found

 The weather forecast for today was 90% chance of rain.  Well 90% of the day was dry, but when it rained, it poured including the start of today's ride.  Paul and I figured that since we were here and we had the equipment for rainy days, we were riding.  We started out wet which meant it could only get better and it did.  The nice thing about a Sunday ride is that there is no business traffic.  That was a good thing since we rode the first three miles past an industrial area which processed cocoa.  What a divine scent in the air.

 Our trip sheet included a map of the area and a numbered guide.  Along the route were these signs telling us which way to turn.  Sometime we were on dedicated bike paths, sometimes on the shared road, frequently a top a dike.  Today was not a ride for anyone with the need for speed.  Many of the roads were brick, a few were cobblestone and most were roads from other centuries when the buildings were very close to each other.  Respect of other travelers ruled the day and all went well.

 This was one of many windmills we passed.  Although many still turn, the canals are kept at the proper depth through a computer program and an electric pumping station.  Still the canals around the fields full of cows and/or sheep evoked a sense of another time in history.  We also learned that windmills were arranged in succession because they each pumped water from one canal to another and then another until the reclaimed land was dry.  Frequently a windmill would be dismantled and moved to another location when its job was completed. 

 All of this was learned at a museum along the route. We climbed up the long narrow ladders to the top of this windmill to see its inner workings.  All those wooden cogs and the long pole were quite impressive.  And as you can see the skies were quite cloudy.  It rained while we were inside so that was one less shower to ride through in the countryside.

This local "artifact" made the perfect shelter from a particularly bad downpour.  We escaped the deluge after riding through some very wind driven rain.

Most of the day was spent pedaling through very old villages and many of them were located below sea-level.  In fact, at one point we were 20 feet below sea level according to the GPS.  Also, Holland may be flat but there is ALWAYS a wind and it is always in your face!