Day 27 IJsselstein, Netherlands 👍👍 Bicycles Rule 👍👍

Tony's View

The bicycle routes are so beautiful and completely smooth. We got on the route today and saw a beautiful route. 

The bicycle routes take priority over car roadways. The picture below shows how the car roadway is gravel, and the bicycle path is beautifully paved. A BMW just went by on the gravel road. 👍

Then we get into the town and saw the parking lot for the school. Yes, bicycles rule. 

We traveled father down the bikeway and saw a school field trip. Do they take a bus? No, they take bicycles.

We traveled farther and ran into this detour. So, not understanding the sign we went around the barriers and found them trimming the trees. We then went around on the road in the one-way traffic. After we got around, we took a picture of the beautiful, trimmed bikeway. 

Then we got around the detour, stopped and looked at the sign from the other way. I got out my phone and translator read it as use the bicycle path on the other side of the road. Oops, there was a better way to get around the detour. Forgot that roads are minor and bike paths rule. and that paths are on both sides. 😕

Farther down, the bike path was under construction. They are widening the bike path to 4 lanes. Must have been the reason for the traffic counts on the bike path. 

Another learning opportunity for the Choice One Traffic Engineers. They have traffic signals for bicycles, and they show how long you will be waiting. It isn't very long because bicycles rule. 

They also have loop detectors for bicycles, which meant no pushing a button. Remember Bicycles Rule. I bet the traffic engineers at Choice One don't even know they exist, so I took a picture. I am sure many of you are saying what a dumb picture, but the traffic engineers are in awe. 

Here are a few more pictures on how bicycle paths are so cool in Netherlands. It keeps demonstrating how cars are not in charge here. 

When you are on the paths, they are just magnificent, and tree lined. 

Traveling in one village, we saw a sign that reminded me of Jeff Puthoff, so I had to turn around and get a picture. 

We got a little down the road when Joan found this trash can that you can throw trash in as you go by. We turned around again to get a picture. 

Therefore, Joan kept a piece of trash in her pocket so if we saw another one, she could throw it in the trash can. We found one. Joan got the trash out and when she threw it, she missed. 🤣🤣 Joan got off to pick it up and others' trash who missed too.

Joan found a place alongside of the road that was selling apple juice, so we stopped and bought one. Amazing what you can find out in the middle of nowhere. 

Before I started growing Espalier fruit trees, I had never heard of them, or saw them. Now it is so cool to see places growing them the same way I am for production. 

We went by this place with guard dogs and looked in to see what it is. 

It was a survival place that said only the strong survive. I wonder if you need to avoid the dogs. That would make it intensive. Here are some more pictures showing the place.

We stopped at St. Barbara and got into a side chapel. I took a picture which I thought was a great place to pray. 

When eating outside the church we saw a bush trimmer. Even Joan said this trimmer might be better than hers. Joan loves her trimmer because I got it for her as a Christmas present. 😍😍 I am such a romantic. 

We were less than a mile from the Airbnb and decided to take a detour to St. Nickolas. It was beautiful and had some amazing features inside. Here are some pictures showing it. The crucifix and the pulpit were just magnificent. Pictures might not do it justice. 

The church was surrounded by water, so we had to find a bridge to get to the church. 

I had such a great time today that I decided to change my plans. I haven't told Dan yet, but I want to come back to the Netherlands, Belgium and maybe England to do a Tour de Beer instead of hiking Mt. Everest. I will let Dan know when I see him next. 😏😎😆

Joan's Extras

It actually was meant to be that we are riding in bicycle heaven Netherlands toward the end of our trip instead of in the beginning or we may have been super spoiled at the beginning. The paths are lovingly smooth with very few bumps. It is just amazing how there is a well-maintained bike path on both sides of almost every street.

Had another laugh today. I guess this sheep believes in the old adage, "The grass is always greener on the other side."