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Katwijk, Zuid-Holland |
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Here come a bunch of horses down the hill to the beach. The flats between the dunes and shore are dotted with ponds. I can see the bungee tower of Scheveningen in the distance.
(original date of this entry: Aug 5, 2017)
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Finding dinner in Katwijk was a struggle. The one homey joint on the square shut by 9, the ones along the beach unappealing and overpriced. Ended up with a Turkse pizza and beer at "Cairo." A festival tent set up on the beach, loud rock band wailing Springsteen and Police. Pumped-up giant Dutch people gathering.
Superb spot for a break up in the dunes forest, a rude bench built around a sapling. The trails are busy on this gentle Saturday, clouds passing, breezy, sun now and then beaming through. Occasional sprinkles. Toward kp 41, the trail climbs into the dunes forest, at points above the trees. Racers, families, couples carefree cycling. This is a very fine stretch of the LF-1. It's not far to Wassenaar, which I investigated for my Den Haag coast article.
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In Scheveningen I returned to the inner harbor with all the posh seafood restaurants, then was detoured off the LF-1 through new housing development. I ended up at the Strand theater, near which a big beach music festival was going on, Schollenpop. The stages set up just south of the outer harbor, rawk 'n' roll, food stands, munten (special festival coins you need to buy to purchase food and beer). A nice idea and people were pouring in for the event. Clever that they had ticketed bicycle parking, as always a wise alternative to motor vehicles.
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Schollenpop festival. |
I continued west and entered Westduinpark. Similar rolling ride through dunes, many flowers popping out of trailside foliage. Stopped at the strand at Pole 8, with a single cafe. Lovely, powdery sand. More seagulls than people, as it is still cool with occasional blasts of sun. Nice to share the space with the gulls, 200-300 of them resting on the sand in front of me. Mostly of the brown-speckled variety, but also grey-winged species with orange spotted beak.
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On the south side of Westduinpark is Kijkduin, as I remembered it a family holiday spot, now full of people, a carousel, lots of kids. I continued south, not along the LF-1 (kp 3 ->6 ->9) but a parallel 'scenic route' to Ter Heijde, which fringes the beach. This long straight broad fietspad goes right past the lake formed by the Zandmotor ('sand engine,' an artificially generated sand bank), where about a half dozen kitesurfers were practicing.
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Zandmotor |
Beyond the lake the landscape gets wilder, a succession of green hillocks amid the drifting Sahara-like sands. A long and thoroughly pleasurable ride. Finally the town of Monster appears on my left, with various spire and towers popping out of the green like some dream I had of a magic town. Continued ...
Good text..
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharring
ReplyDeleteI love how you described your bike ride along the coast.
ReplyDelete