Cycling Through the Dutch Countryside: Windmills, Farms, and Wide Skies

 

Riding in the Dutch country is something marvellously down-to-earth. Perhaps it is the murmur of the bike tires amidst smooth roads, or how the sky appears to expand way above your head and it seems to be a canvas of soft blues and floating clouds.

 

Whatever it is, the only thing when you are leaving the city behind is that the Netherlands opens itself in such a way that it seems so peaceful and alive.

 

I once recall when I rented a bike right outside of Amsterdam and I chose to go on a path which had windmills, farms, and long vistas. In the beginning, I believed that I would use a fast loop.

Note: Make sure to book  Airport parking Luton before travelling for a stress-free travel experience.

 

However, as soon as I rode over the first green fields, the good ones with grazing cows that almost seemed to be amused by passing bicycles, I realized that I was going to have a more serious adventure.

 

The road went through little towns, all of them resembling sleepy postcards. Neat gardens, clean brick houses, children riding with their baskets with groceries, and old couples taking care of plants. In the Dutch countryside, all things are on their own time. The wind even appears to flow at a slower speed.

 

Then came the windmills in the offing. There are countless occasions when you view them in photos but it is nothing compared to the actual experience. They stand out of the landscape so silently dignified, as the sentinels of the past looking over the life of the present.

 

When I got back my legs were feeling good and my cheeks red with wind, I was aware I had been through with a sort of a wonderful experience of a silent sort.

 

Riding in the Netherlands is not a regular ride. It is a reminder on how beautiful simplicity is and how good it is to slow down and breathe at the pace at which a landscape that is centuries old is calm.