Bethany from Harlingen, October 16, 2006 (115 km)
We woke to blue skies this morning with a determination of getting to the largest town nearest the North Sea Barrier Dam (Afsluitdijk). The wind was strong but had shifted to be from the south a little more than yesterday so it was not as effective at pushing us along in south-westerly direction.
The trip took us along the dikes again and through many little, picturesqe villages, each with a church with tall tower often designed to be visible from sea. I thought it strange when we saw the grass of the dike being mowed. The pasture area already had sheep in it and I thought “mowing” the grass was a job they did well. Bryan educated me that the sheep tend to eat only new growth unless you leave them in a pastured until they do not have that option. Hmm. Didn’t think of that one.
We are afraid that it may start to rain on Wednesday so we pushed further today. We reached the city of Harlingen just after nightfall. This is our first major Dutch center that we have been in. Lots of canals with boats moored everywhere. People still out on the streets in the center of town with restaurants open. But we didn’t eat there. We passed through town to the campground and set up tent. Had a cold supper and have now crawled into our sleeping bag. It is going to be a cold night with the starry skies.