Exercise to eat

At least that’s our philosophy. After a buffett breakfast of fruit, yoghurt, bread, cake, eggs, bacon and cheese we cycled out to the coast.

I know we go on about Holland and cycling, but it is so good. Kim plotted a route on the Fietsknoop app and we were off – no arguing or detours.

We cycled out through Leiden’s suburbs to Katwijk, past some idyllic settings. That’s the trouble with Holland, we always want to live here, despite the language barrier and weather that’s just like home.

We detoured off our route to cycle along Katijk’s sea front and rewarded ourselves with coffee and cake, it seemed rude to resist a ‘special offer’.

The beach was beautifully sandy with some interesting windbreaks, reminding us of those we saw in Rugen but not quite as stylish

Only a third of the way along our planned route, we worried we’d run out of energy – 5km of undulating sand dunes was surprisingly hard work for those of us who haven’t been on a bike in months and no longer walk up and down stairs. It was a relief to leave the coast behind. Back into the suburbs of Leiden and we cycled past a lovely little nursery in the middle of a housing estate.

Our afternoon was spent at the Hortus Botanicus. A botanic garden has been on this site since 1590 and contains a Gingko planted in 1785. Renovations to the glasshouse, in 1937, were carefully planned around it and it is quite a specimen.

Described as the green heart of Leiden, what began as a focus on taxonomy and medical use of plants has expanded to include a wide array of projects on plant evolution. It’s worth another visit to truly understand the significance and rarity of some of its plants.