Aside from one puncture and the broken pedals my bike has stood up to the 3000km of abuse well.
Leaving Utrecht it had its first problem to coincide with my wee hangover. One of the spokes on the back wheel had come out where it meets the centre of the wheel. Somehow the thick end which holds it in place had come off or worn away, so it required a replacement.
Luckily it happened right outside a bike shop, but being Sunday in Europe everything was closed.
When a spoke breaks it buckles the wheel, so my only hope was to straighten it and buy a new spoke another day. This was easy enough, but the wheel made me feel uneasy most of the day. I was continually looking, listening and feeling if anything was wrong.
The ride to den Haag was largely uneventful. There is a nice section along the canal to Woerden, which, like most dutch towns, has a huge brickwork church.
There is also a huge intersection just before the suburbs of the capital. It is would be nothing special, but being Holland it has a mini brother for bikes to negotiate the junction.
The Jorplace hostel I stayed in is near the beach so in the evening I went for a walk and a lie down. The sun was out and it was beginning to touch 30 degrees. The Schevingen district doesn't feel like the city with its chilled out beach atmosphere.
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