Day 1. Utrecht to Hoog Soren contd.
The dyke was fun in spite of the extra effort to pass fellow travellers. It was the old sea coast of the Netherlands and our view was dominated by a thin strip of water, and the Flevoland polder. We also encountered a large number of flies; huge swarms in fact. Even with glasses on it was not possible to keep my eyes open. I am not sure if our proximity to the ground affected this but I know we have not experienced such a plethora of insects before.After a few kilometres more, the dyke path crossed the N301 which we had decided to follow to cross over the Nijkerkernauw onto the Flevopolder. Coming up to the main road we had to wait whilst two large tractors passed us. Just after the second tractor a red Mazda 323 driven by a very impatient skinhead overtook on the nearside missing the front of my trike by a matter of centimetres. The driver was totally oblivious to the trike. Had I been at the front of my cycle path he would have hit my feet.
That stress moment over we cycled up the large bridge. Damae normally sits way behind me on hill-climbs but the trikes seemed to exaggerate this difference. I stopped on the way down to wait as there were no signs, but we reasoned that as there was only one way down, a sign was unnecessary. At the bottom of the 'hill' we followed LF9b along the coast of the Flevopolder. I lived in Almere for a year and got used to the 'forests' of trees planted in rows. To our great surprise this route seemed almost natural. It reminded us of parts of Denmark except for the fact that we had a nice concrete path instead of a poor unmetalled road surface. Large pines not planted in rows lined the route, mixed in with shrubs, deciduous trees and all sorts of wild plants. Lovely.
This section then ran up onto the main dyke. Here we made good progress in spite of the wind and droves of tourists. Suddenly Damae spotted a ferry sign, so of course we had to go and have a look. The ferry turned up late but was very cool. I changed into the wrong gear and got stuck at the top of the ramp. A native kindly gave me a push and then the trike was in. The ferry was so large that turning both trikes was possible. Wonderful.
Within a few minutes we were on the other side, and simply followed the water for fifteen minutes or so before the flats that Oma lives in appeared. Oma was surprised to see us, especially as she had expected 'invalid tricycles' and not some hi-tech recumbent. It was a lovely short visit. We had planned to be there for coffee but ended up staying for tea. Before leaving we sat Oma in the Scorpion but she did not want to give it a whirl. Still it made us all laugh!