wind: Bike Traveling Netherlands/Belgium

Dordrecht, Netherlands

​Today was the kind of day reminding me there is blood pulsing through my veins.

I checked the weather from my hostel bed in Antwerp, Belgium at 6am, only to see a 100% chance of rain, 30 mph winds and gusts up to 44 mph. I planned to bike 50 miles to Dordrecht, Netherlands today, on my loop back to Amsterdam. From my sheltered dorm bed, I couldn’t help but be tempted to hop a train instead. Europe is amazing in the way trains are so accessible and affordable. But I just couldn’t. The reason I love bike traveling is because it offers a journey in-between destinations that often feels missed from behind the pane of a glass window.

So gnarly weather and all, I set off on two wheels, gripping my handle bars tight, leaning into the wind to counter my balance, taking turns slowly or else risking being completely knocked over. There were times when the wind was behind me and I didn’t even have to peddle, and there were times I was staring straight into the violent gusts and my bike might as well have been stationary. I took a detour on a wooded trail to let the good trees block the wind and provide momentary shelter. What should have been a 4 hour ride ended in a 7 hour trip.

​A hail storm was on its way, so when I arrived in Dordrecht I pulled into the first shelter I could find. It was a bed and breakfast inside of a lighthouse, I asked if they had a room, luckily there was one left. They let me bring my bike inside and within minutes of rolling my wheels in, the sky opened and giant hail balls hit the ground while loud sounds of thunder cracked and rain fell sideways.

There was wine, food and nice people in the lobby, and for reasons unexplainable, I was overwhelmed with happiness.