With a tip of the hat to Tom Petty.

So, it would be nearly a week before our parts could arrive. As they used to say in parts of West Africa, “What to do?”

Having pretty much mined out the tourist attractions of Nijmegen and Arnhem, we decided to head north to Enkhuizen to visit the Zuiderzee Museum, which had been recommended to us.  This would allow us to answer that burning question, what exactly is the Zuiderzee? (Hint, look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuiderzee)

We found a campsite in easy walking and biking distance of all sorts of useful places, like the Vomar Supermarket and the museum, and checked in – happy to get the perfect spot.  Oh, the joys of easy access to a supermarket!  We made at least three visits on the day we were there, as one can only carry so much on a bicycle! Fred even got a hair cut from a Kurd who shaved him with seemed to be a dry razor! Scary as all get out, but, amazingly, no irritation.

We enjoyed our museum visit.  The weather was lovely and we started with the outdoor town with its displays and buildings of the turn of the nineteenth century.  We are suckers for places like Williamsburg, old Sturbridge village, and the Weal and Downland museum.

Fred especially enjoyed the steam laundry with its engine. Who would have imagined that there would have been a need for a large, mechanical laundry? And that the owner would become one of the wealthiest people in town. (Nice house!)

We also learned some more about the herring fishing industry and the reasons for and effects of building the dyke on the local population.  Folks whose houses were on the wrong side of the dyke got wetter.

The car park is at a considerable distance and a ferry runs from the museum to the town on a continuous cycle.  We took advantage of this and made the round trip on the ferry, which gave us good views of the town of Enkhuizen from the water and of the bridge that runs across the dyke. 

Finishing the outdoor museum, we moved on to the indoor part of the museum. The theme here is water, especially the history of horrific floods that lead to the dyke across the mouth of the Zuiderzee. There were also exhibits of local life and industry, including some wonderful old films. The boat house held a wide range of local boats, including an ice boat.

After another night of heavy rain and thunderstorms (and a somewhat waterlogged campground), we headed back to Nijmegen for the bicycle repair the following day.

The parts were in and the GoCycle rep had brought them down from Amsterdam personally. After what seemed at times an eternity of waiting, the actual replacement of the board took ten minutes, and solved the problem. GoCycle also checked our battery that would not charge and provided a new one as a warranty repair. Bikes repaired, the ride back to the campground was super easy!