During breakfast the barge moved from near the Stevin locks a bit further south to the Kenniscentrum and unloaded there.
The Wieringermeer polder area that we rode through has been (re)claimed from the sea around the time that the Enclosure Dam was built. The farms here are larger and all of the buildings are newer than 1930, which is when the area was drained. It does have a different feel than the older areas because many of the farmers live in newly built small towns and commute to their farms, unlike the older areas where they typically lived at the farm.
Most of the polders prior to this one were draining lakes, but this area had been sea bottom, so the farmers had to plant some unusual crops the first several years to de-salinate the soil. We saw more of these very large electricity-generating wind turbines in this area than in others.
This “modern” (1930’s) pumping station is named after Cornelis Lely, and you’d know why if you read yesterday’s interesting Zuiderzee Works Wikipedia page. In the background is some of the land the pump drains.
Looking the other way from the pump station you can see the town of Medemblik. Medemblik was on a peninsula before the Wieringermeer polder area was drained – it’s no longer a peninsula tip, now it’s just on the shore.
We stopped for coffee in Medemblik, and at this shop coffee included this little shot glass of delicious whipped cream and something like Bailey’s Irish Cream.
This old fort protected the Medemblik harbor.
Then we rode a short distance to Twisk, a small “one main road” town with a lot of nice old houses.
We stopped at an intersection of bike routes. Here are all the places you can go while staying on dedicated bike routes in this area.
We passed an unusual pair on the bike route out of Twisk. (She is exercising a little pony.)
We stopped in Andijk and had lunch in this lady’s nicely-landscaped back yard. She sells cakes and coffee/sodas from her shed, and her chickens liven things up a bit.
She had a pond with some nice lily-pads.
Some trees and umbrellas for shade.
Leaving Andijk we rode back up to the dyke protecting the area. You can get some idea how tall this dyke is from the photo.
Julie making friends with a goat.
In the background above you can see a couple sail boats. There is apparently a big business in charter-sailing historic boats in the IJsselmeer lake, and today was a good breezy day for sailing.
The barge was tied up to a dock in Enkhuizen near the Zuiderzeemuseum. When the Zuiderzee Works were completed, a lot of towns which had been fishing villages on the shore of a great bay were now either on the shore of a lake changing to freshwater, or not even near the shore at all anymore. This change from a fishing culture to a farming culture up-ended many people’s lives and livelihoods. This museum tries to represent and remember that previous way of life, with what is essentially a small village made up of old houses and buildings moved here from various towns. We had a somewhat short riding day in order that we would have time to visit the museum.
It was a pretty interesting museum. The only good photo I have is of this old fire pump, which was kept in a small shed with a few hard suction hose sections and some flexible hose near the center of a village. If there was a fire it could be wheeled out to pump water from a canal with a couple men working the long handles.
After dinner we had a walking tour of Enkhuizen. I thought “Messink Yachting” was a humorous name for a boating service.
This is an old gate-house for the city. In the foreground are statues of a painter painting some goats – this is a monument to Paulus Potter, whose art I was introduced to in the Mauritshuis.
