‘Buddy, what’s the longest have you bicycled?’ asked Francisco, who is an Ecuadorian and also enjoys the privilege of being my first friend in TU. I proudly announced ‘Ten kilometers!’, thinking I have impressed him a fair bit. ‘Excellent!’, he said, ‘Wanna join me on a bicycle trip to Kinderdijk tomorrow? It’s 60km up and down!’. Basking in the glory of having impressed my foreign friend, I thought, if I have done 10 i can do 60 too. Fair to say my reasoning skills weren’t functioning properly as I was too excited to get into an adventure just a couple of weeks after arriving at Delft.

I consider myself fit. I play football regularly and used to work out back in India, so when Francisco asked me to do some stretching before we started out, I thought it was unnecessary and we were wasting precious time! But I stretched some muscle and soon we set off. We started from Aant Verlaat, crossed the mesmerizing Delftse Hout. It was a sunny, beautiful day and people were having picnics around the lake. Then we crossed Delfguaw, one of the most beautiful villages I have seen, and headed south towards Rotterdam.

It was barely half n hour, just before entering Rotterdam, I started feeling a sprain in my legs. I was too embarrassed to tell Francisco and so I kept bicycling on. He was surprised why I was driving slowly to which I had replied ‘I am enjoying the view’. I wasn’t lying though, as we rode through a beautiful road between never ending farmlands. It was straight out of some movie I have grown up watching. Wind in my face, endless green, cattle and horses, I felt good and even my leg pain reduced(to my relief!).

I was in charge of maps, as we crossed Rotterddam airport and into the heart of the city. It is unbelievable to say the least, for a city which was completely grounded during the World Wars, to stand with all its glory – with highrisers and bridges and surreal architectures. We took a halt beside the beautiful Kralingse Plas, watched some Dutch enjoying water sports. Fran told me stories of how much he loves bicycling and that he bikes almost 20 kms(twice my maximum) every Sunday, when his hometown closes all roads for four wheeler and open them for bicyclers. He was more humble(than me) in his narration. We headed further south-west to cross Hollandse Ijssel, a tributary of Nieuwe Maas. Never crossed such a big river on my bike, it was absolutely thrilling ! It was almost 2 and a half hours of bicycling later when we saw the first sign mentioning ‘Kinderdijk- 4kms away’, both of us heaved a sigh of relief.

Kinderdijk is a beautiful place with traditional Dutch windmills, some stand as old as 300 years – witnessing history and development. The village is a photographer’s delight and even my damaged phone’s damaged camera captured such lovely photos. We had ice-cream and food in a local restaurant and I got some picture postcards(to send a piece of Netherlands to someone who hasn’t got the chance to experience it themselves) and we decided to head back for yet another two and a half hours worth of bike ride.