Killing time

I'm killing time in Amsterdam, waiting for the train this evening.  I found some free wifi so I'm forced to have a glass of wine to take advantage. Hopefully I'll be able to make it last a good few hours. That way I can kill a suitable amount of time before attempting to retrieve my luggage from the station lockers. I'm not overly confident of my chances there. 

Onto the journey to get here. 

Train down was as normal.  Big battle to fit my bike (new one as yet unnamed) into one of those silly upright bike spaces, unload it hook it onto the ceiling and then find a seat. An hour later I had to do the whole thing in reverse. 

Anyway, with the help of a nice man I made it off the train in one piece. A walk down the hill and onto the bike route. I stopped to bike up next to a bloody massive yacht. No one seemed to know who it belonged to but, they didn't really care. They were just fascinated by the boat. 

The path out to North Shields is straightforward if not beautiful so not surprisingly I was at the DFDS terminal a little early. This year though the bike numbers were few and so I was boarded by three. I even had enough time for a nap before going upstairs to wave goodbye to the land. 

After a bit more napping, and putting on my glad rags, I thought I'd go along and see how the troubadour was doing. This year he had laryngitis so he found his set a little challenging. He soldiered on hardly batting an eyelid when a bellowing drunk was hustled past in handcuffs. 

In a change 'due to operational reasons' we didn't dock until half 10 so a slow breakfast before packing up. They provide little cards so you know which door you came in and so finding my bike should have been no problem. It wasn't really, but getting to it was. When I eventually battled my way through the HGVs and found my little car deck corner I packed ready for the off. 

I watched as a driver wrenched away part of the wall (and the ensuing conversation - which I suspect went something along the lines of - that's your fault you idiot - only not as polite) and then pushed my bike off. A quick passport check and then off I went. A 180 round a roundabout later and I was heading the right way. 

This time the breeze on my side and the almost still windmills were facing a favourable direction. One brief moment of confusion in the westerpark and then I was spat out once again in Amsterdam centre. 

Luggage in the locker and Nordie II (?) hidden in a sea of bikes I've been wandering around for the past few hours. Only 5 more to go. 

For cycling purposes, windmills should be approached in this direction.