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A lap of Markermeer – 170km bike ride

by bernt & torsten

Today I went on a bike ride around Markermeer in the Netherlands, I started out at my home in Amsterdam an came back 7 hours later after 170 km on the bike.

Markermeer is a 700 km² (270 sq mi) lake in the central Netherlands in between North Holland, Flevoland and its larger sibling, the IJsselmeer. A shallow lake at some 3 to 5 m in depth, it is named after the small former island, now a peninsula, of Marken that lies within it.

My ride took me from Amsterdam via Zaandam, Purmerend, Horn, Lelystad, and Almere back to Amsterdam. The wind came from NW as a fresh breeze at 5 Bft, this made cycling a little hard, I do not like biking into to the wind, as I do not find the right rhythm, especially if it comes sideways. On my whole ride, the only time I had the wind in the back was my ride over Houtribdijk.

The Houtribdijk is a dike in the Netherlands, which connects the cities of Lelystad and Enkhuizen. On the west side of the dike is the Markermeer and on the east is the IJsselmeer. The 30-kilometer-long dike is actually a dam.

I have done this ride before, I never went into the city of Hoorn, I just passed by on the main road, today I went into town and was very surprised of the beauty of the seafront. Here are some pictures I took.