Netherlands/Belgium Bike Tour Day 6: Delft to Ouddorp

Posted by Cassie, November 10th, 2009

Saturday, September 12, 2009

We had beautiful, sunny day for riding, and we rode through the lovely Dutch countryside after leaving Delft.  Then, we headed into a big industrial area by the canal that goes from the North Sea to Rotterdam.  After crossing the canal on a ferry, we reached the lovely town of Brielle.  This weekend was Monuments Weekend, so everything was open to the public for free.  Brielle has a big church with a tall tower that we climbed.  We had an incredible view from the top of the tower.  I love the tile roofs that they have in Europe.  The tile roofs are so pretty when you see them from above.

View from church tower in Brielle

View from church tower in Brielle

The church also had people playing the organ every hours, so we sat and listened to the organ concert.  The man who was playing the organ was rocking out, and you could feel the vibrations from the organ.

Brielle church organ concert

Brielle church organ concert

After leaving Brielle, we rode back to the North Sea coast.  We crossed a huge bridge to enter the island where we camped for the night.  The bridge had huge metal barriers that could be lowered to block the sea from coming in.  There was a disastrous North Sea flood in the Netherlands in 1953, so they constructed a series of storm surge barriers called the Delta Works to protect the land from the sea.  They are an amazing feat of engineering.

Storm Surge Barrier

Storm Surge Barrier

It seems like there is always a party going on wherever we go.  There was a big end of the season party at the campground the night we camped there.  We were camped right next to where the party was, so we got to hear the band playing until late into the night with everyone singing along to the songs they knew.  Thank goodness we brought earplugs!

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