End of the Rhine … are we there yet?

This is our final day on the Rhine. Today we will ride to the end of this river – even though it has lost the name Rhine/Rhein/Rijn somewhere out on the sprawling river delta where it merged with the river Maas and has continued through Rotterdam with that name. To us it will always be the Rhine, and we will ride until the very end, where it empties into the North Sea.

The European heat dome has smashed, helped by thunderstorms late yesterday and we are riding in relative cool. We wave goodbye to Rotterdam and ride west, thankful it is a Sunday and there are less people around. RIding through city streets on loaded bikes, mixing it with impatient people on bikes or worse, deadly little motor bikes, who know the bike lane system, the bike rules, and how to break the rules is a trifle tiring.

After city streets, twists that take us out on to the river bank and back through streets and parklands, we make the final stretch along the river bank. The wind is not in our favour today, but we have a sniff of the end post, our tails are up, so we just keep on going.

Rotterdam is the busiest sea port in Europe, and it is a place where river boats and ocean-going ships both arrive. There is a continuous stream of water traffic, mostly ships, but with the occasional river boat.

We follow our planned route (taken from a published set of gpx files) to the very end and find ourselves in the lanes where vehicles queue to go to England by ferry.

When I arrived in the Netherlands for the very first time in 1987, I came by ferry from Harwich and spent a very uncomfortable night sharing a small cabin with a stranger, hearing the rumbling of engines and the lowing of cattle from somewhere within. When I emerged from the ferry, loaded with an inappropriately large and heavy suitcase and a 20kg “portable” computer, waiting to be collected by my potential new beloved, it would have been here. And now I have returned to this place, with a touring bike, relatively light luggage (compared to that suitcase) an iPad that would be infinitely more powerful (and is infinitely lighter) than that luggable monster of a computer, and of course a man who has been my constant companion for the last 25 years.

Enough of the personal stories and dewey eyed reminiscing. Are we there yet?

I don’t think so. Not grand enough. Not picturesque enough. There’s got to be somewhere else.

We ride on, taking our lead from the scores of Sunday riders who keep heading west. We come to a second possible place. There are a few cyclists stopped here, people sitting watching the world go by and a small kiosk.

Are we there yet?

I rememer learning Dutch many years ago when I was living another life. One of the sentences my Dutch friends taught me was Ik zie de zee (I see the sea). They didn’t teach me how to say “I don’t see the sea” but I think it goes like Ik zie de zee niet. I see the river, but I do not see the sea, and I rode this far to see the river empty into the North Sea.

So no. Definitely not there yet.

We ride further west.

Since Rotterdam we’ve seen not one EV15 sign. There are plenty of red bike route signs, but it seems EV15 has abandoned us to our own devices. I believe a lot of people call Rotterdam the end, but no, we are determined to see the real end of the river as it meets the sea.

Then we come across this.

This shows the route. The whole route. It looks a lot like the wiggly line I’ve been maintaining on our progress page here. It gives us heart, that there really is a end of the Rhine, so we ride on.

We reach a busy beach area, get off our bikes and push them along a path to the very end, and find this sign. Ik zie de zee!

After a bit of high-fiving, a minor celebration, and accosting a stranger to take a photo, there’s still work to do. We have to ride on to Den Haag (and then tomorrow on to Haarlem, near Amsterdam). With our change of direction, the wind is now in our favour, and we fly along the coast, ear to ear grins on both our faces.

We notice signs for EV12 – the North Sea route. This is dangerous … I can feel another trip coming on …

Stats for today:

• Distance: 55.04km
• Climb: 168m
• Average speed: 15.9km/h
• Average temperature: 27C
• Moving time: 3:27:54
• See our ride on Strava

The beer picture

At the end of a day’s ride, our tradition is to enjoy a beer, and to photograph it for posterity. Today’s beer picture was taken at a bar in a cute little street in Den Haag, which is about 20km from our finish point at Hoek van Holland. This was followed by celebratory bubbles with dinner at a restaurant, also in Den Haag.

Along the way today:

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