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Take a Hike! The Dutch had a saying: God made the land for everyone - except the Dutch -- they made their own. Canals ran everywhere. Many homes had water right in front of them. No basements. Both Walter and Mikhail had mentioned how embarrassed they were the prior spring when it rained so much the river flooded and people had to be evacuated. The Dutch took a great deal of pride in their engineering feat that allowed them to live below sea level. Rotterdam was twenty-one feet below sea level. Spring time had the highest tides so canals were at their highest water level. Then it had rained and rained. I told Mikhail not to worry about the flooding -- God had had one when he made his land too, so the Dutch were in good company. Den Hague was known as the greenest part of Holland because of its many parks. We found a path to a small lake where ducks eagerly paddled about. The little ones scooted after bugs, their flipper feet splashing in an effort to be first. The sun shone as Sharon took her shoes off. It was the first time in days her feet had been warm. An eighty-something year old man came along on his daily walk. Spotting our Canadian flag he said: "I remember watching the workers build this park. And now I see Canadian boys and girls." He reminisced how he had gone underground during the war. The Dutch memory was long when it came to recollecting what the Canadian soldiers had done to liberate their country. After lunch we rode past a bar. A patron yelled to us from the terrace. He told us he had a motorhome in Canada and went every summer. While he recalled holiday exploits a colourful rooster strutted in and out the open bar door. We passed fields near Lisse with only green stalks. The colourful tulips had all been cut and shipped to market. At Keukenhof, reputed to be the place to see tulips, we still didn't see any fields of flowers. We searched for a spot to camp. Holland was very crowded. Forests were virtually non-existent. All the land belonged to someone. I knocked on a farmer's door but there was no answer. Along the bike path we saw a likely looking place behind some trees lining the canal. I checked behind and saw two other bikers already set up there. We continued on to another house. The young couple looked at us like we were a couple of lepers and brusquely told us there was no free camping allowed in Holland. I refrained from asking them if that law had come into effect after the Germans free camped from 1942-1945 and it took the Canadians to come over to kick them out. But I bit my tongue. They were the first non-hospitable persons we had met in Holland. Most folks shouted out a hearty: "Liberators!" as we passed. We went back to the canal and set up a hundred feet downstream from our cycling brethren. |
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