Francois_Dumas Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 ... is go out and play in the rain !!! Today I had planned to go riding with my former Riding School, owned by Pé and Marieke Schipper. They do this every year, inviting ex-students to come along on a leisurely ride. This year they planned already TWO rides...... too many successful students for the one ! Allas... the weather forecast for the weekend was a Gale Force 8 southwester and rain. It didn't look too bad when I woke up and the rain stopped while I was getting dressed up. I had sort of finished and wanted to get into my boots when the phone rang. Pé said he would postpone the ride till next year. Bummer !! When I put down the phone Nina looked at me, grinning. "Now you can undress again" she said. I thought for a minute. The weather did not look THAT bad... yet. And I had gotten out of bed at 7:30 on a Sunday ! What the heck, I'd have that ride anyway !! So I did, covered some country roads of our still green province, and here are the photos I took (that wasn't easy, could only make shots with the wind (and rain!) in my back !) This is the rather sad look outside at 8 am in the morning..... My first stop...... 2 km from home.. the local wind mill. This is a monument and is still in use to grind wheat. Roadworks led me to an unwanted detour upon one of the major roads through the windswept green desert of Noord-Holland. It had been raining for a week already and all the fields are pretty sodden. That also resulted in a lot of clay on the roads in the rural areas.. NOT good for fast riding !!! More slippery than ice ! As soon as I could I turned off the main road and headed back into the little villages..... more to see and less problems with the wind pushing me every which way. I liked this house. Recently many of the villages got these red bicycle lanes now. They do add some slippery stuff for us riders.... the white dotted lines... It was WET! And windy. It would NOT have been a pleasant group ride.. but for a long rider, especially on an RT, no problem ! This is Oosterleek, one of the small and oldest villages just along the old Zuyderzee Dike.... And it has an old, wooden church too..... This is where the roads leads up to the dike.... Where it was wet and windy too of course..... The dike.. and the Beemer.... VERY windy indeed..... normally the waves are invisble on the lake.. not so today ! The sky did not look any better, so I decided to call it a day and headed for home...... Hope you enjoyed this rainy day out.... I know I did !! Francois Link to comment
lexxol Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Always look forward for your pictures. I also like the charm of the house. It is sad we don't keep our older houses and buildings. Thanks again for sharing with us. Link to comment
CraigT Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Wot no hills? Good to see you went out anyway. We did a similar thing a few weeks back to the Scottish borders, we missed the heaviest of the showers, but did have a good day out albeit on damp roads, but it does do wonders to fuel economy figures! Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted September 3, 2006 Author Share Posted September 3, 2006 Getting all the way on top of a dike is the most hill many Dutch will ever see Link to comment
Steve1962 Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Another great set of photos Looks like you got the wind and rain we had yesterday .today we just got the strong wind . Glad to see you made it home without any mishaps . Steve Link to comment
GelStra Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Beautiful countryside. I love the "green desert!" See, the question was obvious!! "Of course you should!" Link to comment
SpinTurn Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 There is true artistry in those shots! Thanks for posting! If I may ask, what camera did you use? David Link to comment
glockster Posted September 4, 2006 Share Posted September 4, 2006 Francois, beautiful as usual. When I was in Europe in '2000 I was amazed to see how many europeans included bicycles in there vacations. In and about the German Alps they were everywhere. I suppose they need their lanes as much as we need ours! Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted September 4, 2006 Author Share Posted September 4, 2006 Thanks folks... actually I'd rather make 'sunny shots' ... <grin>. @David: no problem asking I use a Nikon D70 with a 18-70 mm zoom lens in thise case. Each posted photo is 'corrected' using ACDSee 10 Pro or Photoshop (because the Nikon has a little 'problem' showing all that's on the picture right out of the box). Most of the shots above were takem from the bike, sitting on the road side (due to the rain). I keep my camera in the tankbag these days. Stop, put gear in neutral, flip up helmet, unzip bag, grab camera, CLICK, reverse order... ride ! Francois Link to comment
Steve1962 Posted September 4, 2006 Share Posted September 4, 2006 I keep my camera in the tankbag these days. Stop, put gear in neutral, flip up helmet, unzip bag, grab camera, CLICK, reverse order... ride ! .......... Glad to see I'm not the only one ....... Steve Link to comment
flyingreg Posted September 4, 2006 Share Posted September 4, 2006 Francios, Thank you for sharing. Your photos make me feel as though I was there in person. Link to comment
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