Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Today we travel to Ameland, first about a 2-hour drive to Holwerd, then an hour by ferry, and then a maximum 10-minute journey to the hotel. We have made a reservation for the 4:00 PM ferry, the earliest where there is room for a car and we have to be there half an hour in advance.
We therefore want to leave home at 1:00 PM.

We have plenty of time to pack our belongings, which isn't much for three days. In the morning we load the car and put the bicycles on the bicycle carrier on the back of the car.
After lunch we drive away. It is quiet on the road until Zwolle. Then we get to the A28 and it is busy there, a lot of freight traffic. At Meppel we turn off to the A32, which we follow until near Leeuwaarden; it is very quiet on this road. From Leeuwarden we mainly drive on two-lane roads to the pier in Holwerd where we arrive at three o'clock. We are well on time and we have to wait a little longer until we can go through ticket control.
And then we have to wait a little while until we can board the ferry.
The boat sails away at exactly 4:00 PM. The car deck of the ferry is full, more than 60 cars. But there are few passengers, the ferry can accommodate 1200 people, there are only a few hundred.

The journey is uneventful, there is little to see, and after an hour we are on Ameland.
In 10 minutes we are at the hotel, Hotel Restaurant De Jong in Nes, we have to drive a bit through an area that is forbidden for cars, but we cannot find the hotel parking lot. We drive back a bit and ask for directions, no one knows exactly, but there is talk of the 'ring road'. Then we ask at the hotel, and we now find the back of the hotel, but not the parking lot. There are a lot of vans where old ladies get in. It turns out that the vans are in the hotel parking lot, and luckily they make room for us.

Check-in is quick, we get a room on the first floor. In addition to the key to the room, we also receive a key to the back entrance because that is where the bicycle shed is. When we tell them that we have to leave very early on Friday, they offer to put a refrigerator in the room on Thursday evening and put two breakfast packages in it, very nice.

The room is small, but neat, the beds are good. And the bathroom is also neat. We do miss a mini fridge and a kettle. But for three nights it is perfectly manageable here.

Once we have unpacked, we will have a look in Nes, but first we will put our bicycles in the bicycle shed. We are indeed right in the center of Nes, and there are plenty of restaurants nearby. Because we don't feel like searching for a long time, we ask if we can eat in the hotel restaurant, and there is still room for us.
We order a starter with smoked fish and two main courses, a dish with three types of fish and a leg of lamb. The food tastes great, but it is a lot.

After dinner we go to sleep early, we are tired. Then it turns out that the beds take some getting used to, they are two single beds that are next to each other, and then there is always the chance that you will fall between them. Fortunately that doesn't happen.

Written on: 2023-09-30

Next >