Ferry terminal to Amsterdam.

• Todays mileage: 21 miles
• Total mileage: 30 miles
• Disasters: 2 (minor) Both of us had low speed falls today – no injury or breakage.

We woke early after a good night’s sleep. The boat didn’t dock till 9:35 so we had a leisurely start for once.

Once off the ferry we followed a maze of beautiful cycle paths into the centre of Amsterdam.

The cycle paths are busy with many ebikes so you have to watch your back !

The big surprise was that these little cars were allowed on the cycle paths. They’re much quicker than the bike traffic and usually driven by old people – scary 😳

Being pensioners now & generally tight on cash we declined the €18 breakfast on the boat thinking there’d be a cafe on route. We didn’t find one till near Amsterdam by which time we were both getting hangry !

Pannini & chips later we felt fine again & continued to the centre of Amsterdam in sunshine.

After scoping out where the station was we went about killing a few hours. Now the city is busy and has a lovely vibe but it’s not easy to wheel heavily laden bikes through the crowds. It was while doing this we both had our falls !

Sarah found a huge underground bike park. It would have been perfect but the luggage wasn’t secure. The attendant seeing our disappointment then offered to look after our bikes and luggage for a couple of hours.

After picking our bikes up we sat in the sun outside Central Station & had tuna pasta salad for dinner while watching barges going up the river.

Boarding our train was stress free, especially after one of the locals showed us (with perfect english) the screen that detailed exactly where our carriage would stop. It’s at this point we met other cycle tourists 😀

Now being pensioners of limited means – have I mentioned we’re pensioners now ? Anyway we opted for the cheap seats rater than a sleeping compartment. Well about 11pm we really started to regret this as we were sitting near a group of very excitable Italians who loved to shout at each other.

Anyway time to try & get some sleep 😴