Another day looking at the back of windmills !!!
I woke to rain belting off the window and gusty wind directly from the worst direction - east. So it was even more of an achievement to get my 2nd 100km ride of the Tour in today.
I left in drizzle at 10am trying to get a gap in the rain but the forst 2 hrs were just wet - I was fighting the wind as I cycled on top of a levee following the Ijssel for the first 10 miles to Kampen, being on the levee I was getting the full force of the wind - once in town it was easier and that was to be the theme of the day. From Kampen to Dronten and across to Lelystad on the edge of the Inner Sea there was no relief in the fields between the towns. Kampen was a pretty town with a mechanical lift bridge as you entered and in town were churches and wall gates.
After 35 miles I was through Lelystad at at the start of the Inner Sea, where I would cycle across the dyke to Enkhuizen in North Holland. There was a replica Galleon as I approached the dyke, then the big sluice gates and the channel for the ships to pass between the Ijselmeer and the Markermeer which are the 2 inner seas.
Next there was an artwork which I can only describe as a man taking a dump into the Sea !
The first 3 miles went North as there was a rainbow casting great light onto the road and sea. Then the road turned and it was a tough 12 miles across to the other side. I planned to stop at a cafe halfway across for a break .... It was shut ! There wasn't even as much as a bus shelter to take cover from the showers. I pushed on and after about 2 hrs of hell I was off the dyke and a tired final 10 miles still east into the wind followed and one of the slowest finishing 10 miles I can remember. Being full of cold, not having managed to stop for a break a,d fighting wind and rain all day had almost beaten me .... But NOT !!!
Im checked into my hotel, showered, blog completed in plenty time to watch the Toon play Bournemouth.