Day 1. Hoek van Holland to Egmond aan Zee contd.
Past Zandvoort we came to a corner in the road by a large pond in Overveen. It was by now a quarter past three and the picnic bench was in the sun. It was thus an ideal place and time for a cuppa. I got out the Trangia Mini and kettle and boiled some water. We nibbled on fruit and other sustenance, and after around twenty minutes or so we packed up and went on our way.
I started slowly but very quickly realised that my back tyre had precious little air in it. This explained why I found the last dune section hard going. I stopped to pump it up, then crossed the road to where Karen and Damae were, and we headed into the forest (a section Damae and I had done before). Within a couple of hundred metres my tyre had gone down again so it was time to fix my bike. On removing the valve dust cap I heard a hiss, which suggested that the valve was on the way out. Still just to be on the safe side I replaced the inner tube with a spare.
Bike back together and hands cleaned we set off again with renewed vigour. We managed to pop into Bloemendal in the wrong place having missed a sign or two. We asked some locals for directions and ten minutes later were back on track heading up to Sandpoort and Driehuis. Within what seemed like no time, we were at the ferry at Velsen Zuid waiting to cross the river Ij. We arrived with perfect timing and only had to wait a couple of minutes before boarding. A few minutes later we were dicing with commuter cyclists as we headed up past the industrial complex of Hoogovens, and towards more tranquil and pastoral scenery.
Somewhere between Beverwijk and Heemskerk we realised that the wind had started turning. The great feeling of a good tailwind was replaced with the demoralisation of a headwind. The further past Heemskerk we got, the tougher the going got as we entered forest and dune areas. The road surface combined with the wind, and end of day fatigue made progress very much harder. At the crossroads near Bakkum we decided to try to get to Egmond aan Zee, even though we could just have turned right and reached a campsite in a few kilometers. It was terribly tempting but Karen had resolved to reach Egmond, and Damae wanted to go a bit further before stopping. So with aching and tired muscles we carried on along the lovely dune and forest landscape.
Coming up to Egmond, the road signs gave distances to 'De Egmonden' or 'The Egmonds' which was rather confusing. As we were aiming for Egmond aan Zee, rather than 'Egmond Binnen' we didn't know exactly how many kilometers we had to do still. All of a sudden, we popped out onto a main road, and with some relief saw the sign saying 'Egmond aan Zee'. Not quite sure where we were, we dithered for ten minutes trying to interpret the map before heading towards the centre of town.
Then triumphantly we found Kustkamping Egmond, which turned out to be the most expensive site I have ever stayed at. The evening passed uneventfully except for my evening meal creation, well below my usual standards. Just what we needed at the end of the day. Then shower and bed, we had done a hundred and ten kilometres today and a similar distance lay before us tomorrow.