June 11

This morning when I came to breakfast I initiated conversation with my hosts, William and Alf. I found that they had lived at this house for 35 years. William had worked in shipping and traveled all over the world. He was 80 years old and retired. He was quite good with English, and both he and his wife proudly stated that they had no formal English language training. He also knew German and one other language.

My route today would take me to my last overnight before returning to Amsterdam. I did not call ahead to reserve a room for tonight as I usually did. I decided that I would go to the destination town, Edam and inquire about a room at the Tourist Information center. I was a little nervous about this plan but there were no listings in my Bicycle travel club book for Edam.

The distance was less than previous days, a little over 30 miles. Today I encountered threatening weather, and found shelter in a bicycle shop after seeing a bolt of lightening in my direction of travel. After waiting for 30 minutes or so I proceeded on through the town of Hoorn. Some how, I got off of my route and ended up in the middle of this good sized town. After asking directions I found myself in the middle of a street market with many booths selling baked goods, cheeses, and many other products. It was 1:00 PM and I had not had a break for lunch. I desperately wanted a good cup of coffee and some sweet. I bought two crumb cake type pastries and found a cup of coffee to go with it. It renewed my energy, and I quickly pressed on toward my destination. I wasn’t sure how late the tourist information center would be opened since it was Saturday and I wanted to be sure to get a room for the night.

The wind had been strong from the South, and of course I was going mostly South. As I got about 10 kilometers from Edam dark threatening clouds formed in the direction I was headed. A few rain drops began to fall. I stopped and put rain jacket and pants back on and continued to press into the wind and threatening conditions. I finally arrived at the TI in Edam during light rain and I was happy to see the door opened. I quickly went in to inquire about a room. In a few minutes I was set with a room at a B&B.

After checking in to my room and getting cleaned up, I explored the small town of Edam taking many photos and scoping out the food options. I settled on Chinese and had a filling meal of hot and sour soup and curry chicken. I rested well on this last night of my tour.