Bike Touring on Texel Island

I'm in Delft! This post is not about kayaking...

Bridget spontaneously decided to come visit for 2 weeks after her work cruise in Romania was cancelled. The Netherlands is close to Romania, right? She arrived a day after me and we've been exploring the city of Delft together. Of course, our first inclination was to get out of the city, so we made plans to visit Texel Island, which is one in a string of barrier islands (the Frisian Islands) along the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. The map below shows the West Frisian Islands, along the Dutch coast. Texel island is the furthest west, and connects to the mainland (city of Den Helder) by ferry.

From the Delft train station (~1 mile from my apartment), we took two trains to reach Den Helder. From there, we wandered along the levee in Den Helder until we found the ferry terminal (vaarhaven).

The levee/seawall along the coast in Den Helder. No beach left here...

Almost at the ferry terminal

Texel Island is best seen by bike, so we rented bikes next to the ferry terminal when we arrived. We rented the cheap bikes (no gears) for 12 euros/person for 2 days. It took some finagling to attach my backpack to the back of the bike. This was my first overnight bike trip, so it was all new to me. Bridget informed me that this was NOT how bike gear is normally organized. We rode 12 km to Den Koog, which is on the northern coast of the island. On either side we were greeted with picturesque fields of sheep, cows, and horses.

Happy Bridget, moments before her backpack fell off the bike.

Massive backpack strapped to bike.

Baaaaa

The rest of the afternoon was a combination of (covered) patio drinks, window shopping, beach wandering, biking, and admiring the Dutch style of camping (Monster tents with wifi, front porches, fully equipped kitchens, and multiple rooms). We scouted out a lunch spot behind a beach bar which was in a wind shadow, only to have sand dumping on our heads and picnic from above. Mmmmm crunchy cheese. We spent a few hours huddling in the tent during the afternoon thunderstorms, after which we went on a much less gear-laden bike ride to the neighboring Dunes of Texel National Park and watched the sunset from the beach.

One example of a massive Dutch-style encampment

Hiding in our mini tent during one of many afternoon thunderstorms

Sunset walk at the Dunes of Texel National Park

The next morning we woke to a reasonably dry tent and a glint of sunlight. However, by the time we had packed up our bags, the rain was pummeling the tent once again. We conducted the worlds fastest tent take-down and ate our last bread and cheese in the campground bathrooms (less gross than you're imagining). We returned to our bikes and unlocked the super fancy Dutch locks (which lock across the spokes of the back wheel, simply preventing it from rotating. This allows you to leave the bike standing anywhere). On the trip back to the ferry terminal we encountered a massive deluge of rain and hail. After a few minutes of the intensity, we took shelter behind a small shed, huddling next to a French couple. We saw some of our biking acquaintances (other bikers who passed/we passed intermittently) battling the storm and waved from our happy dry spot. Back at the ferry terminal we shared grins of mutual understanding: we survived the storm together.

Huddling behind a shed, hiding from the hail and torrential downpour.

Day 10: Sunset Paddle with Mt. Baker and a Hike up Mt. Constitution

Monday morning we “slept in” and made a dinner-breakfast of spaghetti with tomato sauce, supplemented with mushrooms and chard – yum! Sara and I packed up our tents and left camp earlier than the rest of the crew. Everyone else was headed back to Anacortes later that morning, but we were headed to Orcas Island to continue the second half of our San Juan Islands trip. Even after multiple calls to the Southwest Airlines baggage counter (at 3 different airports), there was no indication that Sara’s two checked bags would be delivered, so we headed into Friday Harbor to replace some of the lost items. A 45-minute shopping spree later, Sara was the proud owner of some new chacos, underoos, paddling gloves, and other items. We made the usual stops for water, ice, and coffee before boarding the inter-island ferry. The ferry from San Juan Island to Orcas Island took ~1 hour, during which I wrote postcards and Sara enjoyed the warm sun on the deck.

Orcas Island is shaped like an upside-down U, with the ferry terminal on the west end and Moran State Park (our campground) on the east side. During our drive we stopped at Eastsound, at the inland end of East Sound (the water body that makes the island look like a U). We stopped in at the first kayaking shop we encountered and purchased a map of the island. One of the employees was incredibly helpful and marked all the launch sites around the island, explaining which would require checking the tides and which are generally current-less. He even gave us their phone number in case we wanted to call for a weather update. Upon arriving at Moran State Park, the check-in lady gave us some hiking recommendations that we pursued after setting up camp. We settled on a 6.7 mile loop that starts at Mountain Lake (a couple miles from our campsite), moves steeply up Mount Constitution past Summit Lake, drops again to Twin Lakes, and meanders back along the west side of Mountain Lake. The views from the top of Mt. Constitution were stellar – the day was perfectly clear and we had nearly 360 degree views of the San Juan Islands and more distant mountain ranges. Snowy Mount Baker was most prominent on the horizon:

The deep and crystal clear waters of Mountain Lake beckoned us upon our return to the car, so we jumped in to refresh ourselves before driving to the northern-most point of the Island (end of North Beach Road) to go for a sunset paddle. Unlike in California, the beaches here are not necessarily public. At the end of the road was a narrow parking lot fronted by a cobble beach with views of the Cascades to the left and Mount Baker to the right. Signs marked private property on either side of the very small public beach. We perched ourselves on a large driftwood log (abundant in these islands) to have a lunch-dinner of pitas with the usual veggie/hummus toppings, complete with honey-topped saltines for dessert. 

We were saddened by the private property signs

Stuffed with delicious food, we speedily unloaded Big Purple and Renaldo onto the increasingly crowded beach (it was empty when we arrived). After a brief mishap that resulted in Renaldo dumping Sara into the water (thank god for the wetsuit!), we were headed east along the shore. It was 7:20pm, so the sun was still high in the sky. We paddled towards snowy Mt. Baker, with glassy waters all around. A seal splashed in distance, and small jumping fish greeted us every stroke of the way. We continued to the northeast point of the island, where we spent a few minutes having a photo shoot in what might be the most scenic view I've ever experienced in my kayak. 

Paddling towards Mt. Baker

The sun was still blazing at our backs, so turning around wasn't an option (way too painful on the eyeballs). Instead, we hugged the shady parts of shore and turned into a small rocky beach where Sara searched for colorful pebbles and I took a “nap” in my boat. When the sky began to turn orange and the sun’s intensity dropped, we started heading back, witnessing a gorgeous sunset along the way. Mt. Baker evolved to different shades of purple and orange behind us. After the sun went down, the mountain ranges turned different shades of blue, grey, and purple, and Sara noted that this looked like every postcard she'd seen. 

Rocky point where we stopped to wait for the sun

Back at the beach, we quickly loaded the boats and wet gear into the car, with one bystanding biker expressing his love for Renaldo. Sadly, my head was pounding from a migraine, so we headed straight back to the campsite (#112) with only a quick stop to pick up water and a wine opener. Sara enjoyed an evening of showering, reading, and red wine, and I went immediately to bed!

Date: Monday, July 28th 2014

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 1.5 hrs?

Post-Turkey Sponyaking

Chiddling = Chill paddling
Sponyaking = Spontaneous kayaking
Imprompaddling = Impromptu paddling

It's my favorite kind of day on the water. Never planned more than a day in advance. Simple logistics, slow pace, and good friends (none of this organized crowd-yaking with strangers nonsense). It's the kind of paddle when your PFD is the perfect beer holder. There is no purpose, destination, or expectation, so only pleasant surprises remain.

The day after Thanksgiving I made the trek from North Berkeley to the Kayak Hotel in Oakland. Sadly, it was the first time I've seen my boat since moving to Berkeley two months ago. On this warm sunny morning, I rolled Big Purple down to the docks, dropped her into the water, and took off for CCK. With my iced coffee (not beer!) strapped to the front deck with bungee cords, I looked like a true city girl.

Ten minutes later I arrived at California Canoe & Kayak, the local kayaking shop where I was meeting Doug and his family (bother, sister, and 8-year old nephew). I bobbed about, sipping on my coffee and enjoying the kayak shop atmosphere. When Doug & co. arrived, they loaded into two red tandems and we headed west, towards San Francisco.

Somewhat surprisingly, paddling in the heavily developed Oakland Estuary is never boring. While it's not the sort of isolated outdoor adventure some might desire, it's always fun to gawk at the massive cargo ships, stacked high with shipping containers from across the ocean. Even with the holiday, the cranes were working hard, dangling the packed containers perilously over our heads (ok, not quite over). Three crowded ferries plowed by us, filled with happy consumers excited for the Black Friday deals awaiting them across the Bay. Their wakes reflected from both sides of the channel and lifted us high in the air. In lieu of any photos, here's an awesome link where you can see real time locations of ships in San Francisco Bay.

8-Year-old Daniel and I embarked on a garbage-collection competition. It didn't take long before Big Purple was stacked with 50 cans and potato chip bags. When I offered my stack to Daniel to make the competition more fair, he didn't fall for my trick. So I guess I won?

We made it all the way to the mouth of the Estuary, between the airfield and Middle Harbor Shoreline Park, which apparently hosts concerts in the summertime (on the to-do list). We applied sunscreen, ate some snacks, and turned back towards Oakland.

The route, starting in the estuary and paddling out to the Bay. In this map you can also see Lake Merritt. I lived on the east side of the Lake for two years before moving to Berkeley two months ago.

Date: Friday November 29th, 2013
Time: ~2 hours
Distance ~ 7.5 miles

Thanks to Jeff for a much needed kick-in-the-pants to update the blog. I've skipped quite a few wonderful paddling trips, but it's always easier to start with a simple one :). Stay tuned for a guest post from Jeff in a week or so!