Eliot's Travels

On Sunday morning, we went for a family bike ride in the countryside around Delft. Jim took Miles on his bike; I had Eliot on the back of mine. We headed out the Buitenwatersloot toward Den Hoorn, which is a small town about 2 km from central Delft. We rode past old houses, draw bridges, and boats along lovely, quiet canals. Here we saw 3 horses being ridden across this interesting green draw bridge. We also saw a white draw bridge, similar to the green one, that was drawn to let a boat pass. Eliot thought that was pretty neat. Along the route between Den Hoorn and Schipluiden, we passed by this beautiful English garden. Eliot commented that "this is the wildest garden I've ever seen."

At Schilpluiden, we decided to follow the bike path toward 't Woudt. The scenery included fields with dairy cows, canals, windmills and greenhouses. Holland provides much of Europe with its vegetables. Given the moderate climate and the abundance of water, this makes sense. Along our route we saw roses and tomotoes being grown in greenhouses. Most of the windows were fogged over, so it was difficult to see what was growing inside. Where there is water, there's bound to be water fowl. We saw plenty of ducks and coots with their black bodies and white beaks. In a still pool, this beautiful blue heron walks in the water looking for food.

posted by Whitney @ 11:58 AM