21 again again…

Posted by on 22, Jun 2012 in 2012 - The Last Dictator Tour (Belarus & Russia)

21 again again…


After the previous days energetic cycle ride through some gorgeous countryside and over numerous little and large ferries we decided to let the train take the strain and visit Dordrecht for Linda’s birthday boarding from Gorinchem at the unearthly hour of 11.30 – that was our attempts at an early start! In our defence we drank too much and stayed up late the previous night to watch England play Ukraine in the town square on a giant screen which they had to turn on especially for us! The square was surrounded by restaurants in typical continental fashion, all of which had a smattering of dinners, none of whom were the slightest bit interested in the footy. In fact when England scored and Jon cheered it caused a ripple of applause from them, much to Lindas embarrassment!

Anyway, I digress. Dordrecht is the oldest town in Holland and has a lovely old water front right on the confluence of the Dordtse Kil, Merwede, oude Maas and Noord rivers. Its a bustling town laced with canals and waterways with houses that reach for the sky whilst seemingly leaning over to peer into the water. You can tell the reconstructed and newer builds as they have vertical walls whislt the older buildings lean on them for support. Sitting on the river front with a traditional dutch cake – which looked like pink custard with lemon mouse and strawberries (delicious ) – we watched in awe as a huge barge about 120m long did a hand brake turn at quite some speed and glided perfectly against the quay for 10 minutes to allow ‘the wife’ to pop ashore for a pint of milk! ‘Hubby’ then zipped away and if it was possible for a boat to skid you’d say he skidded around and headed away at full pelt up river.

After this great show of seamanship we decided to have our own nautical adventure and took the electric boat tour around the waterways and harbours (whilst Linda irritatingly started to sing Disneylands most annoying song – it’s a small world…) allowing us to check out which bar to head to once ashore for a swift half before heading off for supper. Alas my first taste of Dutch cider was somewhat disappointing so when we arrived at Pim’s Pancake House we opted for wine with our savoury pancakes. The restaurant itself is one of the most popular in Dordrecht, and not just because it has model trains running around the walls and Spitfires and Liberators flying from the overhead fans! The food was great and we were so stuffed we had no room for pudding so headed back on Tilly to the train back to Gorinchem. It was such hard work cycling back (all of 1.5km) that we were forced to stop for an ice cream on the way to have a rest!

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