If Maarten Kemperman is honest, he has to admit that he now prefers mountain biking to road biking - although not where we are travelling: We pedal on the racers from Leeuwarden towards the Ijsselmeer, through a landscape in which the molehills on the lush pastures are the highest natural elevations. The Dutch province of Friesland is about as suitable for mountain bikers as Lake Tegernsee is for circumnavigators. A landscape as flat as a pancake, much of which lies just below sea level. On the seaward side of the dykes, the waves of the North Sea splash or crash against the coast, while canals criss-cross the land behind the dykes. In the south-west of the province of Fryslân (as it is called in West Frisian) lies the Ijsselmeer, the largest lake in the Netherlands created by dykes.
Alone in the world
On land, between the dykes and the Ijsselmeer, imposing brick churches tower into the vast sky. While we once again wait at one of the countless bascule bridges until the sailors and motor yachts have passed, Kemperman explains that each of the villages and historic towns has a specially designed church tower. "As a kind of trademark for the place, so people knew where they were." And he enthuses: "When you're cycling in Friesland, you sometimes feel like you're all alone in the world." I think I know what he means.
You can find the whole article and the GPS data for these tours in the download area below:
- TOUR 1: To the Waddenzee (109 kilometres, 200 metres in altitude, maximum gradient of 1% - apart from two 100-metre "climbs" to the dyke)
- TOUR 2: To the Ijsselmeer (139 kilometres, 150 metres in altitude, max. 2 % gradient)
Downloads:
GPS data: Netherlands, Friesland
