But let's start in Utrecht this morning. We had a later start, trying to wait out the rain a bit, and by and large it worked - for a while! Our morning coffee was in the town of Brueklen in a cafe that dated back to 1459. That has to make it right up there as one of the oldest coffee shops anywhere. Brueklen is a very beautiful town with perhaps the best collection of homes we have seen anywhere in Holland.
We cycled on enjoying what seemed like a steadily improving day to a part of the ride that was a narrow artificial strip of land that went right out into the water and looped back several kilometres later. We found a great place for lunch and, being in no rush, enjoyed a leisurely meal. In hindsight maybe we should have kept going. We came out of the restaurant to a sky that looked like - and was indeed - thunder!
We made a run for it but our luck ran out. We got caught riding heavy steel bicycles in a gale and cloudburst with a thunderstorm directly over us, under a line of trees and with water out to either side. What could go wrong? Only finding our escape route blocked by a big slow moving man on a bicycle with 4 dogs who didn't feel like moving aside for us. Of course we all made it but it was an adrenaline rush for a while!
And strangely we started to see crayfish crawling along the bike path. Perhaps the lightning was attracting them in some way.
Anyway, after a while the rain stopped, the sun poked out from behind the clouds and we cruised the final 5km or so to Abcoude wet, tired, but all a little sad that our adventure was coming to an end.
Peter from Tulip Cycling was there at the appointed hour and the check in was quick. We cabbed back into Amsterdam and are now happily fed and tucked up in our hotel room for the night.
One more day in Amsterdam tomorrow to shop and explore.
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