Picnic Day!

Well.. what can I say... today was about 30 degrees (real measure... -23847 +/- 38561 in the weird American system...) in The Netherlands. That usually means that the country grinds to a halt as everyone flocks to the beaches. It is a weird sort of thing, as the country find this sort of heat to be a major heatwave event... whilst in Australia it is a pretty normal day for the brighter months!

Anyway, we've learnt our lessons from the past few years... on days like this... DON'T go to the beach! It is a nightmare with the entire population of the country there and with tiny amounts of space and loud revelers leaving rubbish all over the place. Plus, the beach isn't that nice compared to Australian beaches anyway... and the water isn't so much fun to be in!

So, we decided to go for a nice early bike ride to get to a shady park with a playground... and to pack a picnic! Actually, there were three families that were in on this avoid the beach mania plan... However, we were the ones that had to ride the furthest (about 15 km each direction). Initially I had thought that we would just take one normal bike and the bak-fiets... but in the end, our oldest wanted to ride as well... we try to encourage that anyway, so after fixing up her seat to be at a better height for the long ride, we set off!

Early enough in the morning, it was not so hot... although it was a touch windy in spots... however, it was a pretty nice and picturesque route that we took. So, we had a nice relaxing ride as we had left more than early enough to make sure that we wouldn't need to ride hard. Plus, we had made allowance for the fact that we had a slow bakfiets and a 7 year old as well....

Eventually, we made it to the park area... it is a relatively large green area in Den Haag (The Hague)... what is quite nice about The Netherlands (or at least in The Hague) is that there are many little wooded areas with playgrounds (or just places to sit and relax)... you have to find them, as they can be easy to miss (especially if you drive around the town)... but once you find them, they are great places to have a day out.

It was my wife who had suggested this park... it is a place that she comes to each week... but normally she enters from a different side! So, we had a few loops and wrong turns before we found the playground and picnicking area.

... but we did end up finding it! A relatively shaded and cool spot where we could hide away for the hot afternoon... away from the direct heat of the Sun and away from the maniac crowds at the beach. Already, as we were approaching the park, we could see that there were hordes of people heading in the direction of the beaches (cars, bikes, scooters...)... all getting cranky and worked up in the hot weather as the traffic jam got worse and worse! Definitely not my idea of a fun way to spend an already hot day!

It was funny... tying up our bikes like there were horses outside a saloon from the old Wild West! Anyway, those are our main chariots... the bakfiets (a heavy and slow cargo bike...), and more zippy oma-fiets (grandmother bike). We used to have this really great little green bike that was so light and fast... unfortunately, it got written off when a visitor borrowed it and got wiped out by a car.... I miss that bike (and the visitor was okay...she survived and wasn't irreparably injured... broken collar-bone... could have been much much much worse...).

Our toddler wasn't able to do the 15 km ride... she did want to do it with her scooter, but we are nasty parents and we said NO! When she got to the park, she really wanted to do some scooting... so I did go with here for a bit.

We discovered this funny house....

... with some really beautiful rose bushes... I think it would be something that would look really nice in our garden. We do have space for some climbers... I think! I'd better check with the chief garden planner...

After the picnic... we did have an ice-cream (of course!)... Riding back was much less picturesque as we took a more direct route back... so mainly through the urban town areas... so, I was more busy trying not to hit people who would just step out in front of bikes rather than trying to take photos... unfortunately, it was also crazy windy by this time as well. Our oldest was a trooper... but maybe about with 3 kilometres to go, she couldn't ride any more... (she had totaled around 25 km for the whole day.... not counting the ice-cream detour!)... so, I put her bike in the bakfiets (these are super handy things!) and we finished the day like that!