This morning I only intended to go to Kinderdijk to see the UNESCO World Heritage site near Rotterdam, easily accessible by boat, but that trip took a lot longer than I expected. I rode the ferry from Erasmusbrug to Ridderkerk, and then another ferry from Ridderkerk to Kinderdijk, the Erasmusbrug to Ridderkerk ferry runs every 30 minutes, the Ridderkerk to Kinderdijk ferry runs a similar schedule, but takes a 3 hour break from 9:10am to 12:10pm. Not expecting this, I decided to ride the bike trail for a while, and ended further than I though when I finally reached a fork in the road. The fork was southeast of Nieuw Lekkerland, a town I had seen before from Lekkerkerk, and I decided to not go back to the Kinderdijk ferry terminal, but to go to Nieuw Lekkerland, take the short ferry ride across to Lekkerkerk, and then ride my bike west back to Rotterdam. Then once back in the Rotterdam municipality, ride the metro back closer to home with my bike.

I’m really glad I went to Nieuw Lekkerland, I found a little stand with apple sauces, jams, and eggs. Not comfortable with the stability of the eggs, and not in the mood for apple sauce, I picked up a jar of Strawberry Rhubarb jam. Past Lekkerkerk on the road back to the metro station was very windy, and there was construction in the way of the bike path in Krimpen aan den IJssel causing a few detours.

The metro was more exciting than it needed to be, first I was yelled at by a random man for having my bike on the metro. Bikes are allowed on the metro during non-rush hour periods, and they are allowed in specific sections of the train, both of which I was complying with. Second, the metro had to pass through a station that had a disabled train that had been smoking.

Story about the train: https://www.rijnmond.nl/nieuws/204191/Metro-op-station-Oostplein-ontruimd-na-rook-onder-voertuig

In total I travelled 50km today (according to the Amersfoot RD projection for the Netherlands), and 30km of that was by bike. I was intending to be home by 10:30am, but made it home 2 hours later, and I learned a bit about the ferry system in the Rotterdam area, and had an unpleasant metro journey. I’m happy with how nice the day was in general, the Kinderdijk windmills were beautiful, and I got some exercise and jam.