Cycle round Texel Island 13 May

Picture of Boat Bike sailing ship – looked very comfy and would be a fun experience

This morning we had to catch the ferry to a small island called Texel a short journey from Den Helder. The idea was that the guides would lead us to the ferry terminus, however neither of us fancied cycling as a large peleton so as we had downloaded the map we headed of a few minutes ahead of the others. Glad we did as I was able to grab a tasty coffee and then we were at the front of the line to board the ferry, and then also disembark.

The journey was short, but comfy. As it was still cool and quite breezy we sat inside and looked at the view through large picture windows, including someone feeding seagulls from bits of bread / cake she threw off the deck for them. Unfortunately our ‘peleton’ had packed their bikes very tightly into the corridor so we had to clamber over some chairs to get to the front where our bikes would have blocked the exit. On the return journey the group had their thinking hats on and left a gangway!

For the start of the ride we had the wind behind us and so it was fun riding along the shoreline. We could have gone into a museum at our first town (Oudeschild) Kapp Skil which includes various artefacts recovered from the Palmwood wreck including a beautiful gold thread C17 wedding dress that had been preserved in a wooden cargo box and successfully restored. It was tempting but we decided our heads were not really in the space for visiting a museum.

We rode along to the docks, where our ship sometimes docks. However today another Boat Bike ship was moored there. This was a masted sailing ship, which I think it would be fun to join a trip on another year. Our ride continued along the shoreline until we came to the decision point of doing the longer or shorter ride. I had found yesterday hard work and was quite tired so we headed inland into the wind just before the Nature Reserve and made our way through the countryside to Den Burg – the main town.

Found a lovely café for a cup of coffee and replenished our supplies of Euros. Had a little wander along the picturesque  market streets. A fair number of shops specialised in wool and woolen products, a traditional industry of the islanders. Suitably refreshed we continued westwards though lovely winding bike trails. The impact of the wind was reduced by the dykes and woodland fringing the fields. A much nicer cycle than I was expecting. There were plenty of benches along the trail and we found a sheltered one in a patch of sunshine to enjoy our sarnies.

Another highlight today was paddling in the North Sea. The sandy beach basically runs the full length of the island and is protected by high sand dunes which in places are cut through allowing access. We took our chances and headed for Strand Pavilion 21. Perfect spot. We took off our shoes and headed down to the beach for a paddle where Mike tried to encourage me into the water where he was standing knee high in order to get some photos of me running through the surf. They didn’t really work but the happy memories are there. Fortunately (rather than through careful planning) SP21 was right next to a camping site that we could cycle through to get to De Koog a small seaside town. Neither of us fancied a coffee however an ice cold beer had our names on it.

It was still a reasonable way to the ferry terminus and our guide had recommended visiting a nature reserve where theoretically the bird life around some small lakes was amazing. Unfortunately it was so windy by this time that all the birds were taking shelter! Glad it was not a particularly long detour.

We had nearly got to the ferry and Mike said that maybe there would be one in a few minutes as he thought he could see one in the port. I recovered my va va voom and literally put my pedal down – only to discover that the ship was one in for maintenance and we would have to wait half an hour for the next departure. Well we put the time to good use and enjoyed an excellent soft whip ice cream, out of the wind in some warm sunshine. On return we even got back to our boat in time for tea and cake. No wonder I don’t loose weight on these trips!

Mike still had enough energy to go on the group trip to the museum lighthouse ship, which he really enjoyed – the thing he was most impressed by was the mechanisation of the machine to program the light flashes on the beacon. I didn’t fancy all the steep steps onboard as my hip was giving me a bit of gip so enjoyed watching a movie on my ipad.

See below for a video of our ride. Note to see the full controls click on the < control on the progress bar. This will allow you to watch the video full screen.