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Schoonhoven is still famous for its beautifull silver jewelery that is
made here. If you park the bike on the parking near the ferryboat that
crosses the river "Lek" you can walk through the gates into town drink
a coffee on a terrace or look at the old streets or the ships in the
small harbour.
The historic gate of Schoonhoven
With the small ferryboat I cross the Lek (only 1.60 Euro for the bike and me)
and drive on the dyke of the Lek in the direction of Streefkerk. I realy love
to drive on these dykes. The views on the river with the ships on one side and
the nice farmhouses and little villages on the other are stunning and a winding
road with good asphalt is allways nice to drive on a Wing.
Cargo ships on the river Lek
I follow the dyke until I enter Streefkerk. Then I turn left and drive to
Papendrecht. Like a lot of roads in this area, the road is next to the water.
Because of the water in this area there are a lot of windmills here, the
windmills that made Holland famous all over the world. Most of the windmills
in this area used to drive waterpumps to pump the water out of the polders to
keep the land dry. As you probably know, a big part of Holland is bellow sea
level. The windmills in the picture are near Oud Alblas.
Two windmills near Oud Alblas
Past Oud Alblas I drive to Papendrecht and then I get on the N3 freeway through
Dordrecht to get on the A16 going South.over the Moerdijk bridge.
After I crossed the Moerdijk bridge over the "Hollands Diep" I follow the A17
until the Zevenbergen exit. After a few kilometers I enter Zevenbergen and I
drive past the station to get on a backroad to Oudenbosch. On a corner of a
street in Zevenbergen I see some nice trike's parked on the sidewalk and I
stop to have a look.
Trikeshop in Zevenbergen
It the shop at the streetcorner, they sell trike's and Harley's and all kind of
"biker" accessoires and clothing. When I get in I get a cup of coffee. I chat
a while with the owner and I look at the nice things for sale before I get on
the GoldWing again for the rest of my trip home.
I find a nice narrow and winding road from Zevenbergen to Oudenbosch and I enjoy
riding my bike here.
When driving on any road to Oudenbosch, the first thing you see when you getting
close to Oudenbosch is the basilica, an old Roman Catholic church, build between
1865 and 1892. It is a scaled down copy of the St-Peter in Rome.
The history of Oudenbosch goes back to around the 15th century when the inhabitants
of Nieuwenbosch were forced to higher grounds when their village was washed away by
the St. Elizabethsflood in 1421 and they founded a new town.
I'm on my way home now so I drive on, but on another occasion I visited the
basilica and I can recommend it to everyone who loves old buildings. It is
possible to climb to the edge of the dome and look down in the church.
Impressive.
The basilica of Oudenbosch
From Oudenbosch I drive to Oud Gastel and through Wouw to Wouwse Plantage and
from Wouwse Plantage I get on the road to Huijbergen. Halfway the road through
a forrest is a parking in the forrest that is a good start for a walk. In this
case I don't want to walk but because of the heat, it's over 30 degrees Celcius,
I need something to drink.
I park the Wing and enjoy the quiet forrest, the shade of the trees and a
soda before I get on the Wing for the last part of my trip home.
Pitstop in the forrest near Wouwse Plantage
Through Huijbergen I drive home and just past seven o'clock I
arrive home after my three hour holliday trip.
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