On the strong recommendations from a variety of corners, we took a day to ride north along the winding Vecht River, very easily accessed from our B&B. Once the choice for large and stately homes of Amsterdam merchants, the area is rife with gorgeous small(ish) villas surrounded by impressive grounds. Along the way, we came through several towns: Oud Zuilen, Breukelen(from which the name Brooklyn), and small but beautiful Loenen a/d Vecht.
Oud Zuilen is little more than a handful of smaller dependencies surrounding a moated castle, which is now a chic restaurant/café. Both other towns were reached by crossing one-lane drawbridges to the western side of the river, and typically have car-free old centers that cluster around one major church. Tiny stiles and lanes radiate from this center, and in Loenen, in particular, the sensation is truly one of stepping well back in time. Sometimes the scale of these villages is reminiscent of a fairy tale. One feels one is literally moving through a story. We crisscrossed the river, riding through small streets, alongside meadows of cows, by the odd windmill, and regularly passed old, stately mansions on both sides of the river.
We later biked across the narrow dike that leads over the sailing lakes of Loosdrecht, and swung back to the Vecht for more of the same, stopping along the way for cover from the rain under a large tree. Minutes(literally) later, we were back on the saddle and enjoying the same sights from a different viewpoint. A really memorable and worthwhile ride.
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