We broke out of the house today, and then broke out of Utrecht itself on our way to mini-golf. It took 1 1/2 hours to cycle there, which is quite a long way, but it was a really nice scenic route through woods and some lovely countryside. It's great that everywhere here has a cycle path, even the most out-of-the-way country roads. Emma even found a new way to cycle involving swinging your legs rather than peddling, hard work, but surprisingly it works, as semi-illustrated by this photo:
Amazingly, we didn't get lost despite our destination being beyond the end of my map. The village itself was quite something, set in a holiday village like an open-air Centre Parcs. There were about 7 restaurants on a strech of road no longer than 100 metres and hundreds of cars and people. I think we went on the same day as a vintage car rally. The golfing centre boasted three different courses, so we opted for the middle-expensive one and set off on our 18-hole adventure. It's actually quite (deceptively) difficult to ge the ball to go where you want along those oddly shaped courses. Still, it provided much entertainment, both for us and the group behind us. Luckily, I wasn't the only one to get my ball out of the course and into the 'rough', but still, it gave Laura a nice photo opportunity:
The final standings saw Emma winning from me with Laura trailing. The scene is set for a rematch. We were there for about an hour before we headed for lunch at one of the many pancake houses. I was sadly fooled by my choice reading something that said like creme brulee, for with creme brulee. So my pancake just came caramalised. Was nice nonetheless though. I think I've promised to make pancakes tomorrow night as well now, so I'll have to make sure they live up to restaurant quality.
The way back was quite interesting. An (in)conclusive episode between Laura and Emma while cycling ended in Emma falling off, Emma discovered she could ride with no hands while I discovered that I couldn't, and we got in the way of a number of fellow cyclists while trying to prop up a camera so as to get a photo of all of us. In the end we found a fence pole that was slightly to low, resulting in this:
Amazingly once again we didn't get lost despite coming back a different way. We all though slightly saddle-sore. It's great to have found out how easy it is to get around Holland by cycling. Everything really is flat and none of us feel like we've cycled for 30 odd kilometres. My intended cycle ride to Amsterdam is looking more promising by the day!
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