Friesland and Lake IJssel

On Saturday afternoon you’re expected between 1 and 2 p.m. on your boat, located across from the Amsterdam Central Station. After arrival, you can meet your cycling companions, guide, captain, and crew, and store your luggage in your cabin. The first part of the tour we will sail to Lelystad and from here we will make a short bike ride. Back on board the program for the next day and the rest of the week will be explained at dinner time.

From Lelystad, the barge sails across the IJsselmeer to Lemmer from where we continue by bike to Sneek. We ride via the wooded Gaasterland region. In this region you will find the old village of Balk. Later on you pass through IJlst, an idyllic little town with a narrow town canal, low houses and a ribbon of linden trees. The banks of the connecting waterway between IJlst and Sneek are covered with a fringe of reeds and the occasional willow and alder. Riding through this green landscape you can enjoy the abundant flora and fauna special to this region. You end the day in Sneek, a town living within the surrounding water. In the local museum you can get an impression of the Frisian history of seagoing and inland shipping as well as of shipbuilding and the ice-skating sport.

Riding out of Sneek you first pass through Boazum. Boazum offers you a wonderful example of Romanesque architecture: the church St. Maartenskerk. Further up the road you ride past several terp villages. You can recognise old dikes now meandering through the landscape, like the Slachtedijk. The Slachtedijk is a so-called inner dike, 42 kilometres in length. The dike makes an unforgettable impression on you as it winds through the landscape in a picturesque way. Today’s destination is Leeuwarden. It is the capital of Friesland and is a typically Dutch city with narrow streets, brick houses and canals, where you can visit various museums, shops and the historic town centre with a beautiful park.

You ride out of the provincial capital Leeuwarden and enter the flat land with meadows again. After about an hour cycling you reach the old university town of Franeker. It is a lovely town to walk around in. Here you can visit the world famous 17th century planetarium of Eise Eisinga. Via lovely villages with age old churches you will reach Makkum, a town famous for its pottery. If you want, you can make a short detour to the interesting harbor of Harlingen, yet another of the famous Frisian Eleven Cities.

From Makkum you continue riding through the meadows to Workum, a town that flourished around 1300 when other towns lost their connection to the open sea. Next comes Hindeloopen wich is a town with its own dialect, traditional costume and painting style. In earlier times Hindeloopen did not have its own harbour, but only anchorage. The fleet was in Amsterdam while the captains spent the winters in their ‘commandeurswoning’ (captain’s residences) in Hindeloopen. At Nieuwstad in the town centre you can admire these well-preserved houses. Today’s destination is the historical harbour town Stavoren. The city was granted city rights between 1060 and 1067, making it the oldest city in Friesland.

In the morning you sail to Enkhuizen crossing the IJssel lake, since 1932 the largest fresh water lake in the Netherlands. Enkhuizen is a nice old harbour town to explore, and after arrival in Enkhuizen you can visit the Zuiderzeemuseum. This museum shows you the history of everyday life around the Zuiderzee until the middle of the 20th century. Today’s cycling stage will take you to Hoorn along the IJsselmeer dike with on your left the IJsselmeer en on your right the lower lying land. Hoorn was a major harbour in the 17th century. From here ships sailed for the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), America, Scandinavia and the Mediterranean.

The first part you sail to Volendam, originally a small fishing community, now a tourist attraction. Here your last cycling stage starts. You cycle to Monnickendam where you can see the towns many old gables, plaques, chur­ches and towers. Then on to Marken, a former island with many green painted wooden houses and its own particular character. Near the lighthouse there is a nice little beach where you can enjoy your lunch and perhaps take a swim in the fresh water of the IJsselmeer. The last part of the stage takes you through an area called Waterland. You will understand why it is called that when you see that the houses and other buil­dings are almost at water level and that the ground is soggy. At the end of the afternoon you will reach Amsterdam. Once you are back at the boat in Amsterdam it is time to take leave of your bikes. In the afternoon there still is some time to go into town and after dinner you may want to finish off your trip by going on a city walk or taking a trip on one of Amsterdam’s canal boats.

Our tour concludes after breakfast, with departure before 10 a.m.