Tour de Pays-Bas Day 2: From Purmerend to Alkmaar

Purmerend - Middenbeemster: 6.4 km
Google Maps time: 21 minutes   Our time: 30 minutes

After a good night’s sleep in Justin’s cousin Maarten’s old bedroom, we have a quick coffee and say goodbye to Aunt Frances and Uncle Harry (and their pet turtle, Arthur, who is closing in on 100 years and will probably outlive us all). Our first stop on Day 2 is the historic tiny town of Middenbeemster, a quick easy ride from Justin’s aunt and uncle’s house. We stop at the elegant local café/bakery/gift shop Bij Moeders for coffee and a saucijzenbroodje (Dutch sausage roll) for breakfast.

Middenbeemster - De Rijp: 5.1 km
Google Maps time: 16 minutes   Our time: 25 minutes

From Middenbeemster, it’s a straight shot down “Rijperweg” (love how in the Netherlands there are often times where the name of the road you’re on is some twist on the name of your final destination). En route we just happen to pass by THE Beemster cheese factory! Unfortunately, we don’t have any storage space or way to refrigerate a wedge of cheese for the rest of our trip, but we do enjoy a sample from the shop’s friendly staff.

We continue on to De Rijp … and if you’re getting sick of historic Dutch tiny towns already, you’re out of luck! While we initially picked De Rijp as a stop because it seemed like a good place for a rest halfway between Purmerend and Alkmaar, we quickly learn that this town is a beloved destination and well known for its authentic historic architecture and mazes of dreamy little canals. We enjoy a casual lunch at local diner Eetcafé de Walvis (the kind of place where every local teenager works for the summer) with a classic appel pannenkoek (Dutch pancake with apple) and hamkaas tosti (Dutch grilled cheese. … We’re still debating if it’s different enough to a North American grilled cheese to put on the menu at Borrel sometime as a special).

Enough of tiny towns, we’re headed to the big city! … Well, Alkmaar isn’t all that big. It’s actually pretty cute and quaint as well. Especially with its famous recreation of a traditional Dutch cheese market. Every Friday between March and September (and on Tuesdays in the months of July and August), visitors can watch giant wheels of cheese (up to 160 kg!) being thrown onto and then carried in on barrows, weighed and finally bartered on between farmers and traders — just like it would have been back in the 1600s! (Visitors to Borrel may also have noticed our nod to the cheese markets of Alkmaar with this souvenir tile that we did not actually acquire in the Netherlands, but at the DECA yard sale a few years ago!) Unfortunately our stay in Alkmaar doesn’t coincide with the market, but we have seen it done before at the also famous cheese market in Gouda (although Alkmaar does tout its market to be “the oldest, biggest and most famous”).

No matter, plenty of other things to do in Alkmaar! After checking in and leaving our bikes at the hotel, we tuck in for a quick drink (or three — post-bike rides, the beer goes down a little too easy. Especially bike rides where you’ve faced some strong headwinds yet again) and some bitterballen at In de Pimpelaer. We also catch the end of the day’s Tour de France étappe (who put everything into perspective biking hundreds of kilometres compared to us not even breaking 30 km today).

Then a stroll toward Alkmaar’s centre where we come across the statue of Tante Truus, Truus Wijsmuller-Meijer, a woman who worked with the Resistance to organize the evacuation of thousands of Jewish refugee children during the Second World War.

No matter the size of a Dutch town, many of them are built around a centre. And that centre often consists of a circle or square lined with cafés and terraces where people come together to create a lively, communal and gezellig atmosphere. Like the craic in Ireland, it can be magical how this spills out into the streets or into pubs or restaurants. It’s infectious, and we often follow its signs to lead us to a fun night out. While it’s a bit of a quiet weeknight in Alkmaar, there’s still a buzz coming from certain locales. And on this particular occasion, the noise coming from one building in particular draws us into a lively (and gezellig, of course) Greek restaurant for a fabulous dinner.

Completely stuffed, we return to our room at the College Hotel. It’s a lovely spot in an old brick building that used to be a boys school (the hallways are still lined with child-level water fountains). They also have a secure spot for us to store our bikes overnight, right across the hall from our room. We’re all set for a much-needed good night’s sleep, as we know tomorrow will be the longest day of the trip. Little do we know just how long!

CAFÉ OF THE DAY: Proeflokaal de Boom

Proeflokaal de Boom has been running strong for more than three decades and is somewhat of an institution in Alkmaar. Situated alongside a canal with seating both outside by the water and inside in a spacious yet super cozy room, it’s easy to see why. They have a library of beers and a variety of vintage beer advertisements and paraphernalia adorning the walls and shelves. It even has its own beer museum upstairs! (Unfortunately not open on Wednesday, the day we’re here.) We enjoyed a beverage both inside (for the atmosphere) and outside on the packed floating terrace (to join in on a lively borrel and for some prime people-watching).

LEARN FROM THE AMATEURS: As you may have noticed from our timelog between De Rijp and Alkmaar, it took us a good half an hour longer to get there than the 60 minutes Google Maps projected. Not only was our nemesis tegenwind (headwind) against us, we also made multiple stops to make sure we were going in the right direction. While there are signs for bike routes, they can be inconsistently placed and you can bike for several kilometres without any reassurance you’re actually going the right way! So to make sure we were staying on the right route and not pedalling precious steps in the wrong direction, we would stop to check. But all those stops add up time-wise, and can also be a real momentum killer if you’ve got a nice pace going. So while we prefer to keep screentime to a minimum, we decided to invest in a phone mount for our bike. A visit to Kaandorp Fietsen in Alkmaar got us set up with an affordable mount that would end up saving us hours for the rest of the trip. (Especially useful to have Google Maps live directions when entering and exiting towns and cities to help navigate the maze-like streets.)