As soon as I was feeling not-sick enough to go on another bike adventure, I rode to Dordrecht and then on to an epic national park called de Biesbosch.

I first spent an hour or two trying to get Jacques, my French road bike, to shift properly. The problem seemed to be a bent derailleur hanger. Trying to eyeball it straight was proving to be futile. I exhausted my options without access to any parts or fancy tools, and I rode in the direction of Dordrecht but through the town center so that I could stop by the bike shop and ask if they had a replacement dérailleur hanger. It was 11:30 on a Sunday. The bike shop opened at 12:00. The Dutch seem to take their leisurely Sundays pretty seriously. I just rode on with some not great shifting, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker.

The ride involved a bike tunnel (the Maastunnel) and a “waterbus”, both of which were fun surprises when I just expected to be riding over bridges.

Dordrecht was quite charming. The stranger I met in Utrecht who told me I should visit Breda also mentioned Dordrecht in the same breath. She mentioned that the old-fashioned towns in the south of the country were her favorite. I could see why. Especially after traveling through the modern port city of Rotterdam to get there, Dordrecht feels like a time warp back to the 17th century. Many of the buildings date back to that time period. Also, it seems to be impossible to travel through the city without traversing cobblestone and brick. On a road bike, this is a bone-rattling experience, but one begrudgingly puts up with it because the place is so obnoxiously charming. Dordrecht thereby earned the nickname “Adora-drecht” and sister city status with “Cutrecht” in my book.

My immediate goal in Dordrecht was to obtain some food. However, the entire town center seemed to be closed except for two bars. Actually, there was one pizza shop that had tables outside and its doors wide open. I walked in and found a bunch of old Italian men watching a car race on a projector screen. One of the old men walked up to me. I asked if the restaurant was open. He said no – not until 5. I went back to the two bars that had people sitting in them. The menu was all in Dutch, so I asked the waiter if they had anything vegetarian. He asked someone else behind the bar if they could throw something together. He then suggested a brie sandwich. I said “sure!” Said sandwich contained a toasted bread roll with brie on it and some oregano sprinkled on top of the brie. It was better than being hungry. After that, I could walk around a bit without wanting to eat everything in sight.

When the church bells ring, make it hard to hear anything else around. People in nearby houses and shops get a bit flustered and shut their windows.

I made a quick stop at the Dordrechts Museum.

Then I was off to de Biesbosch. This stretch of the ride included discovering this life-size Noah’s Ark.

…plus a ride through a smaller forest, sheep, getting lost in a very remote-looking area, and another ferry ride.

Here’s what I discovered in de Biesbosch. There were very few people around, and the place was enormous – one could spend an entire day or two there. I only got to see the western edge of it before it got too dark to see anything.