Bakkum to Purmerend skate 2, North-Holland (June 9th 2003)

On Monday, the rain had gone and a sunny landscape welcomed us. We started in Bakkum-Noord just behind the dunes of the Northsea. We set off to Limmen crossing a "Strandwal". This is a small sand dune about 10 meters high) pushed there by the sea 5000 till 3500 years ago. This was also the last "hill" we saw, because soon we entered the flat landscape where you will find many flower beds.

The skate continued through "cobblestone" village Uitgeest and south of the Alkmaarder lake. At Krommeniedijk we approached a T-crossing from the north and paused. After a few minutes a whole pack of cyclists approached from the south and soon thereafter several hundreds antique motor bikes came down the third leg. So many ways to use a set of wheels :-)

From here we skated to the small ferry at Westknollendam. This ferry doesn't have an engine, instead you have to use the manual winch to get it to the other side. Being with quite a large group we had to pull it across twice. Later, at Spijkerboor, there was a motorized ferry, but only 12 persons are allowed at a time, so it took a while before we all could settle down at the "snackbar" at the other side, where we enjoyed the sun.

After our very relaxing break we were treated by the new very smooth asphalt on the dike along the "Noordhollands kanaal". Soon everybody was racing at full speed, single file and drafting behind the faster skaters. After about 10km, we boarded the bus again that brought us to the IJsselmeer at Monickendam. And ofcourse nobody could resist the cool water for a dive :-)