I’m glad I wrote down my directions last night, as my Google maps app died within the first half hour of my ride. It wasn’t a particularly difficult ride, it was mostly along the water, and since there was a strong headwind, I couldn’t go fast enough to accidentally miss any turns.

My hostel wasn’t ready for check in until 4pm so I sat in the lobby and chatted to a cycle tourer from the US. His beloved bike was crushed by a car while he was waiting at a set of lights, he was okay but obviously heartbroken. It made me feel lucky that I didn’t have any serious mechanical issues. After check in and a shower, I headed out to dinner and had an amazing steak and freshly baked bread with some kind of magical dip.

The whole area was cool, my hostel was transformed from an old factory and across the road was a massive skate park and a pop up village. There’s a big university nearby and it seems they’ve made the area really vibrant. These shipping containers have been transformed into shop fronts, studios and office spaces for local designers and students.

This month’s Strava Gran Fondo challenge is to ride 120km within 24 hours. I had an extra 14km to go, so I cycled to a bike path just before Nuenen, where Van Gogh lived between 1883-85. They’ve used glow in the dark pieces depicting his famous Starry Night. The photo is a bit blurry without a professional camera, but it was pretty cool.

Afterwards I went to buy some groceries, in this case, fruit and waffles. Stroop waffles are famous here, they’re caramel sandwiched by two wafers, I ate one earlier today and knew immediately I needed to buy four more. Luckily my hostel was super quiet, so I was able to get some rest before my last ride for the week.