In the UK it’s the end of the mid term break. I’ve been on this road a trillion times. Mainly in spring. The sun’s much lower now. I make a stop every ten minutes to breathe in the fresh air, take in the amazing landscape and catch the sun on camera in all different stages. Today is a great day for a 2.5 hour tour Leiden countryside.
Cycle helmets on a 2.5 hour tour Leiden
The girls aged 6 & 8 are excited. Their eyes sparkle from below the cycle helmets. “They had to bring them”, their mother tells me, “they were convinced they couldn’t do a cycling tour in the Netherlands without their own bike helmets”.
The family of 4 are all great sports. Easygoing and looking out for each other. The two girls are quite fanatic on the 2.5 hour tour Leiden area. They pedal as fast as their small legs can take them over bridges, along the canals.
Boerhaave and the unicorns
While mum and dad check out the castle where scientist Boerhaave used to live in the last days of the Golden Age, the girls keep making rounds and rounds on the gravel path. In the corner of her eye, the oldest daughter suddenly sees the unicorns on the building at the entrance of this Leiden estate. She has discovered the estate’s stable, now turned into a conference hotel and café.
Golden Age painter in Warmond
Dad, who loves paintings and just visited the Mauritshuis in The Hague, makes a different discovery 15 minutes later. We’ve arrived in Warmond. Dad has spotted the statue of Jan Steen, a famous Dutch 17th century painter, who lived on the Jan Steenlaan 36 in this village by the lake.
We cross the Zwanburgerbridge and sit on a bench overlooking the lake. The girls have found the playground and run to the swings. In the meantime we count the windmills. We can already see 4 windmills. I point towards Leiden. “The windmill we are going to visit is right there, on the other side of the lake”. The girls jump up. They’re ready to visit the polder windmill.
Visit windmill Leiden polder
This windmill is one of my favorites. It stands high and tall in a polder landscape. You have a fantastic view on the Leiden lake. The youngest daughter is now getting tired. The 2.5 hour tour Leiden is almost to an end. On our visit the miller also shows us the wheel that pumps up the polder water to a pump head of 1.45 meter. He explains how to make the mill to face the wind. Inside, the family climbs up the small, steep stairs in the windmill and admire the view. “Can we go back to the bikes now?”, the youngest daughter asks. It’s time to end the 2.5 hour tour Leiden.
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