Tulips galore!

What a day! It’s been awesome! And that’s not a word I use lightly. We’ve had a 45 kilometre (28 mile) bike ride in glorious sunshine, exploring the bulb fields around Flevoland. I took 134 pictures of tulips, which I’ve managed to whittle down to 66!

After 8 and a half hours sleep, we got organised and set off. On the way to the start of the tulip route that we’d decided to follow, we passed lots of people cycling to church in the Sunday best… men in suits and little girls in pretty dresses… lovely to see.

We parked at a beach club on the Veluwemeer, rook the bikes of the back of the van and set off. I’d been expecting the whole route to be through open fields or polders, but we set off through woodland and it turned out that there was lots of variety along the route.

The tulip fields were the highlight though. They were just stunning… full of vibrant colours under the bright blue sky, often with a backdrop of tall, elegant trees.

John was very patient while I played with various different techniques for my photos… intentional camera movement, multiple exposure, varying depth of field and so on. I tried to look for some shots that were a bit different, such as the tulips that were a different colour from those around them, and the ones growing away from the rest. There were so many brightly coloured fields that I had to do something to avoid all the shots looking the same! I also had my photography project in mind and I’ve got lots of interesting images for that, which I’m really pleased about.

We stopped for coffee and cake at a place doing pick your own tulips. Unfortunately we couldn’t carry them back on the bikes, and I have nowhere to put them in the van.

I hadn’t realised how long the bike ride would take us, especially with all the stops for photos. There was nowhere for lunch on the route, unfortunately, but luckily we had remembered to take water. By the end we were both rather tired and glad to get back to the van.

We returned to the campsite for a very late lunch and welcome showers. We and the bikes were covered in dust! Once again the facilities on the camperplaats are great. Then, while I messed around with my photos, my long suffering husband washed some undies and socks, and cooked sausages for dinner… the first time we’ve used our new Cadac gas BBQ, needed because this campervan doesn’t have an oven and grill. It’s great to have the weather to cook and eat outside at this time of year. Now we’re snuggled up with a glass of wine and a brew, thinking about watching some telly. Bliss!