• Meals: Dinner

Your tour starts in Amsterdam, and you should board the barge between 13:00 and 14.00. You’ll be met on board by the captain, crew and guide and after stowing your luggage you can enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and meet the other guests. Time permitting, there will be a short introductory loop ride tour through the northern part of the city. After dinner on board, your local leader will explain the programme for the next day and the coming week.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Early morning we’ll leave Amsterdam. A ferry will take us to the Amsterdam Noord quarter and soon you will be cycling through the rural area of Waterland. You’ll visit the former isle of Marken, whose museum shows you how people used to live and work here.

After Marken, the route continues to the historic village of Monnickendam, which received its municipal charter in 1355. There was a flourishing seafaring trade here with the Baltic countries and Suriname, as there used to be a direct waterway between the Zuiderzee (the Southern Sea) and the North Sea. For a long time Monnickendam has been renowned for its eel smoking; to this day eel and other fish are smoked in the harbours.

You’ll continue your cycling along the Gouwzee dike to Volendam, today’s destination. Originally Volendam was a small fishing community, whose inhabitants wore their distinctive and picturesque traditional costumes. From Volendam, you’ll sail to Hoorn. During the evening walk you will have the opportunity to explore this beautiful city.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

You’ll start cycling along the dike, with a wonderful view over the Markermeer on your right and West-Frisian villages on your left-hand side. The recently (1976) built dike from Enkhuizen to Lelystad (in the Noordoostpolder) will appear on the horizon.

Your destination for today will be Enkhuizen, a town which came into existence when two adjoining villages joined. You can end your day with a visit to the Zuiderzeemuseum. This museum, with both indoor and outdoor sections, shows you the history of everyday life around the Zuiderzee until the middle of the 20th century.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

The ride today will start on the IJsselmeer dike, which you’ll soon leave behind to go through a nature reserve and typical West-Frisian villages. Medemblik will soon come into sight, the oldest city of West-Friesland (1289), with an illustrious past and whose Radboud castle dates back to the 13th century.

In the summer months an old steam train runs between Medemblik and Hoorn, pulled by one of its five shining locomotives. Here you can take a break to have a closer look around. After Medemblik you’ll board your boat and sail the IJsselmeer and Wadden Sea to the isle of Texel.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

The isle of Texel is the largest of the small Dutch Wadden Islands, highly appreciated by bird-watchers! In springtime around 80 different types of birds breed here, mainly in the dune areas, but all in all about 300 different species have been seen on Texel.

A tour around the island with its numerous cycle tracks is well worth the effort. The largest village on the island is Den Burg, where you’ll find most of the island’s shops. The local museum gives a good impression of island life and is housed in a building dating from 1599. De Koog, one of the oldest villages, is the principal bathing resort and De Cocksdorp, the northernmost village, is entered through a tunnel of interlocking tree branches! If you cycle to the most extreme northerly tip of the island you may be able to see Vlieland, the next island making up the chain of Wadden islands.

You can choose between round trips of 35, 48 or 62 Kms. (Note – The leader will cycle the 35 Kms.)

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

The ship takes you back to the mainland, and you’ll disembark in the city of Den Helder, the Dutch naval port, situated at the mouth of the Noord-Hollandskanaal.

Today’s route will take you through the dunes. In April and May you will cycle through the flower bulb fields around Anna Paulowna, the centre of the North Holland flower cultivation. South of Callantsoog you’ll pass by the unique nature reserve Het Zwanenwater (The Swans’ Water), with its lakes and boggy hollows in the dunes. A little further on, you’ll cycle on the Hondsbossche Sea Dike, with its spectacular view of the North Sea.

Your destination for today is Alkmaar, also called the City of Cheese. Its weigh house was the first in the country and it is here that the weighing and trading of cheese used to take place. Like Amsterdam, Alkmaar houses a great many ‘hofjes’ or almshouses: typical 17th century enclosed courtyards with little houses inhabited by single women and usually supported by the church. Just under 400 heritage sites, canals and a harbour dominate the townscape.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

After leaving Alkmaar the route will take you through Droogmakerij land with the 17th century towns of Schermerhorn, Graft and De Rijp.

You may also have time today to pay a visit to the Zaanse Schans, a unique hamlet where people live and work, with original houses and windmills from the river Zaan area. Traditionally this was a region where foodstuffs such as edible oil, nuts, rice and grain products were imported and processed. At the beginning of the 18th century the area boasted more than 600 windmills! Nowadays nearly all of them have been replaced by motor-driven pumps. The hamlet is dominated by three operating windmills, the oldest built in 1673, for grinding mustard, spices, paint and oil and for sawing wood into planks.

The last stretch of the trip takes you through the Twiske leisure park to Amsterdam. After dinner you may want to finish off your trip by going on a city walk or taking a trip on one of Amsterdam’s canal boats.

• Meals: Breakfast

After our last breakfast, it’s time to disembark (before 10am) and say goodbye to your fellow passengers, your guide and the crew before starting your journey home.