Less than an hour’s journey to our next stop, a campsite down the road from Kinderdijk, a UNESCO world heritage site because of its windmills.

The campsite is small and rural which we prefer and the weather is fine. Enjoy butties in the sunshine and then we are back on our bikes again for the 5 mile ride into Kinderdijk.  Apart from the almost vertical exit to the campsite, it’s a lovely flat route on cycle paths alongside canals and fields. Lots of feathered wildfowl with their babies swimming around.

Closer to Kinderdijk, we cycle past canalside houses with gorgeous gardens in full flower. We have seen so many fabulous hydrangeas in all colours, I’m inspired to plant some when we get back home. Taking a wrong turn we end up eventually in sight of windmills, but on a footpath. Have to cross rickety wooden bridges and walk and cycle through a field full of fresh goose poop.. ugh. The next field over, there’s a mad local racing around the field in his car to chase off a huge flock of geese. They fly out of his way into the canal and, as soon as he’s gone, fly back to the field! Find our way back onto the cycle path which runs alongside a huge river, the New Meuse which is a northern tributary of the Rhine.

Kinderdijk lies before us, 19 windmills, most dated 1740. They used to be part of a complicated water management scheme to manage flooding in the poulders. A poulder, a word we’ve seen lots in the Netherlands is a piece of low-lying land, usually below sea level, reclaimed from the sea or a river and protected by dykes. They use artesian screws and pumps nowadays to do the same job.

It’s amazing to see so many together and we cycle around to enjoy the view.  Some of them are still working, some are museums but quite a few are lived in, judging by the hanging washing and gardens.

We cycle back, this time without getting lost. 13.5 miles today!

Leisurely evening doing some planning for the rest of our trip, drinking cold beer in the sunshine and eventually a BBQ.