Oosterdok

The Rhine Cycle Path, Day Eleven:

We’d probably have otherwise gone straight from Arnhem to Amsterdam by train but we decided we should make up at least some of our missed cycling time by spending the morning making our way over to Rhennen and getting a train from there instead. Navigation looked to be a doddle as we were following a seemingly well-signposted bit of Dutch Cycle Path but we manged to get lost a few times in the woods anyway and, what with the temperature rising to 34 degrees we were fairly knackered by the time we finally hit the city. Our hotel was in the former officers quarters in the Marineterrein, the old naval base and now a parkland by the river, where, it turns out, all the young people of Amsterdam gather when it gets properly hot to pretend they’re at the beach – it looked like we were staying in the middle of a festival! Anyway, we stowed our bikes and escaped to the canals – which were clogged with party boats full of topless men, it looking very like every possible waterbourne vehicle had been pressed into rental service for the afternoon. We found a quietish canalside bar to while away a little time and then went for a very nice Nepalese meal…