Today, as the navigator, I pulled rank and stuck to Knooppunten – less direct but far more enjoyable and varied than yesterday’s main road route. Through the sandy woods that stretched as far as our hotel, then agricultural – and horticultural – land until the border of the Hollands Diep. Shades of Dutch painted landscapes: long lines of poplars on the horizon. En route we cycled along one of those tree-lined roads which must have been so common when I first started cycling in the Netherlands over 40 (OMG!) years ago: a cobbled carriageway and a paved, smoother cycle lane at the side.

Willemstad was en fête when we arrived – it was the day of a mass run around the town which was just ending as we pedalled up the main street behind the slower stragglers. It seemed as if everyone was out to cheer on and applaud the runners, and we got our share of it. Willemstad is one of those star-shaped fortified towns, like Woerden, so obvious from the map. Its present fortifications date from the late 16th century and have been augmented by WWII German concrete bunkers. Nowadays it’s all very peaceful and picturesque – the kind of place where river cruise boats stop over. The town’s silhouette from the ramparts include a windmill, a town hall, a domed church, lots of lime trees and an arsenal – whose menacing puprose is softened by having a pretty carillon.