Somebody Changed the Music
Netherlands (Gelderland): Stage 14 Zwolle to Apeldoorn 40 Km (Wed 26 July 2023)
Weather: 12⁰C min – 20⁰C max, light rain (80% chance)
“We can’t always choose the music life plays for us, but we can choose how we dance to it” ~ Tiny Buddha
I didn’t choose “Raindrops keep falling on my head” but that was the music I had to dance to today. So out came the long plastic leggings, thermal vest, and my chilli coloured rain jacket. Ready to dance now!
I was in no hurry to get to Apeldoorn because the earliest I can check in to my hotel is 3 pm and I didn’t fancy hanging around in wet clothes, so I delayed my start until 10:30 am.
Riding was a joy on the quality fietspads (bicycle paths) and fietstraats (bicycle boulevards), leading me through lovely parklands, forests and fields. A bicycle boulevard, sometimes referred to as a neighborhood greenway, neighborway, neighborhood bikeway or neighborhood byway is a type of bikeway composed of a low-speed street which has been “optimized” for bicycle traffic. Needless to say they are a delight to ride on.
The four small towns I passed through (Hattem, Wapenveld, Heerde, and Vaassen) were neat and tidy, even though lacking the appeal of the stunning villages of Giethoorn and Belt Schutsloot that enthralled me yesterday. However, Heerde had a coffee shop open which impressed me tremendously.
Remarkably, after a wet start to the day and dire weather predictions, the jukebox changed the tune to “I can see clearly now the rain has gone” … a much better tune to dance to!
Even the goats were ready to dance … on top of a table out in the middle of nowhere! Another quirky thing today was the sign saying Wild Rooster, which had me a bit worried because I am aware of the highly contagious Avian influenza (bird flu) sweeping the globe at the moment. My eyes were scanning in all directions looking for wild roosters that might come flying at me!
For several kilometres my route took me on a long straight fietspad running alongside the Apeldoomsch Kanaal, providing smooth, uninterrupted, carefree, riding through lovely bushland.
Apeldoorn is a city located in the province of Gelderland in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the 12th largest city in the country, with a population of approximately 162,000 people. Apeldoorn is known for its green surroundings including the Hoge Veluwe National Park and the Palace Het Loo, a former royal palace and now a museum. The city also has a rich history in the textile and paper industries, and is home to a number of museums and cultural attractions. Apeldoorn is well connected to the rest of the Netherlands by road and rail, and is located approximately 80 kilometres east of Amsterdam.
More importantly for a hungry and thirsty cyclist, Apeldoorn has an attractive centrum with lots of interesting cafes and coffee shops.
Let the music play!
Haha – goats are such characters! Glad to hear you’re dodging the wild roosters – keep up the good work! Beautiful water lilies.
Love the goats, they have lots of character.