Europe 2026 – Day 9 – Enkhuizen (Volundam) to Alkmaar

We woke about 6:30am to the sound of the barge engines being turned on. It was about half an hour before we were underway on our two hour sail to Volendam, where we began riding today.

Breakfast is a buffet and we can pack a bag lunch to take with us. I took pictures of the buffet today.

We began disembarking just after nine. After all the passengers were off the crew wheeled the bikes down the gang plank.

Here’s our starting picture Volendam harbour in the background.

Melanie and Brooke joined us again today. Brooke had some trouble with her bike yesterday and was provided with a different one today, but had to wait for it to be set be fitted. Since I was among the first few people that arrived back yesterday, my bike was first dawn. So today it was the last one off. We set off about 945.

The brick road surrounded by quaint homes and shops was a bit rough as we headed out of town, but it wasn’t too long before we were on a smooth asphalt advisory road with an embankment on our right and homes on our left.

We stopped briefly at a lock partway between Volendam and Edam. 

This video shows some of the canal homes in between the two places.

These types of canal bridges are very common.

Edam is another lovely town and is the home of the eponymous cheese. It was founded in the 13th century. It was a former shipbuilding and trading hub. It’s known for its quiet canals, narrow streets, historic 17th-century houses, and traditional cheese market held in summer.

This is the church steeple in Edam.

As we left Edam we passed another large embankment, dijk in Dutch.

This is  Simone, our tour guide, who rides every day we do. Our tours are self-guided, with either paper maps, or Ride with GPS, but Simone is available to help people who need along the way.

The bike path was grade separated from this busy road with a gentle incline. 

Here are some of the pictures I took of our group riding today, presented the slideshow. Click on the arrow to see the other images.

Dayle brought a camera with a very long lens for pictures of birds.  She often stops when she sees birds that are we don’t have,  or are not common at home. Today she didn’t need her long lens to capture this swan sitting right beside the bike path on a nest of eggs.

Shortly there after we passed a cute gate framed by swans.

Lunch was in Monnickendam. I took this picture from a lock to the harbour. It had lovely views, and a long bench along one side of the road. I suggested it as a spot to have lunch. Alina joined me. Somehow, the others lost track of where we were and carried on down to the harbour for their lunch.

We listened to the church bells at noon and watched a mechanical display with each chime of the hour.

Then we decided to take Simone‘s advice and visit the coffee shop by the lock. Alina had mini pancakes and I had a latte. It was delicious. I thought it looked expensive before we walked in, but the total wasn’t as bad as many coffee shops we’ve seen and visited.

Alina and I followed Ride with GPS out of town and caught up with the others who left the harbour at about the same time. Today we travelled on quite a few roads that were not much wider than one small European car. This one had a little bit of extra asphalt every so often where a cyclist could pull aside to let the car buy. Or each car can pull assigned if two had to pass.

The next little place we came to was called Broek in Waterland. It was a lovely little village. We saw this couple in a small motor boat. The woman had a pole to push off of objects on the side.

This beautiful home had a lot of pieces of art around the yard. 

I called Cindy over to take a look at it because I knew she would appreciate the art and she saw a cat looking out the window.

It was about this time that Wayne suggested we should look for ice cream. Everyone agreed.

The church of Broek in Waterland was built before 1400 but was raised to the ground during the 80 years war. In 1628 the inhabitants Broek in Waterland started to rebuild the church on the foundations of the old building.

The church now houses a coffee shop, but we didn’t linger because they didn’t have ice cream.

This little windmill was on a small canal, or perhaps irrigation ditch.

“Auto te gast” is a Dutch traffic phrase meaning “cars are guests”. It is commonly used on “fietsstraat” (bicycle streets). It signifies that while cars are allowed, they are secondary to cyclists, must drive slowly (usually max 30 km/h), and cannot hinder cyclists. 

We saw this attractive row of houses just before the ferry.

The Landsmeer – Het Schouw ferry (Pontje Landsmeer – Het Schouw) is a small ferry service in North Holland, Netherlands, crossing the Noordhollandsch Kanaal to connect Landsmeer with Het Schouw (near Broek in Waterland). It was €0.25 to cross and had to be paid with a credit card.  It is a cable pulled ferry.

When we were on the ferry, David’s bike fell over and cut his shin. I hung back with David and Dayle, while Dayle cleaned and bandaged the cut. Unbeknownst to us, the group ahead of us witnessed a pony getting loose and the pony owner, dressed as a pink bunny, chasing the pony to try and catch it. Wayne stopped traffic so they could safely recover the pony.

Shortly thereafter, we had to change sides on the canal where there was a highway and a real line. We rode quite a distance to one side before climbing up to the level of the highway on a gentle incline, and then doing the same in reverse on the other side. The only “hills” we have encountered here are bridges and underpasses, but they build them with such gentle slopes that they are easily managed.

We finish the day Zaanse Schans. Zaanse Schans it’s like the Dutch version of Calgarys Heritage Park, or Morrisburg’s Upper Canada Village. Cindy and I visited there on one of our trips in 2022.

Zaanse Schans is a famous open-air heritage site showcasing 18th-19th century Dutch life. It is a living, residential community open to visitors, currently free to enter, although that might be changing in the future.

It was established between 1961 and 1974 to preserve the Zaan region’s industrial 18th-19th century heritage. It features relocated historic windmills, wooden houses, and workshops that show the area’s history as Europe’s first major industrial zone.

I had gotten ahead of the group of nine of us that have been riding together often and on, at the point when I spotted Zaanse Schans. It was incredibly crowded with tour buses, cars, bikes, and mostly people on foot. So I parked my bike in the bicycle parking and messaged the rest of the group about where I was and then started walking.

I spent about 15 minutes walking around and then ran into the group who were still on their bikes. They had seen Simone, who told them that normally people could ride their bikes through the area but they needed to be very careful or walk them given how many people were there today.

I soon tired of the crowds, and was quite tired after a second day of doing more than 50 km, so I rode the last few hundred metres to the barge.

I laid down on my bed and reviewed some of my pictures. My phone camera worked perfectly well today. I am so relieved it seems to have been just a temporary software issue.

 The barge started its journey to Alkamaar about 5:45pm. I was still in the cabin when I realized that it was going right the Zaanse Schans windmills, and that the light was perfect. I dressed and raced up to this sun deck, where I took many more pictures which are in the slideshow below.

I also took a video as we were leaving Zaandijk.

There were many beautiful old industrial buildings and ships in Zaandijk. The bridge, in the first image of the slideshow below, was lifted for our barge to go underneath.

Dinner was served at six, as usual. I think this was my favourite meal so far. The steak was perfectly done. And we had a delicious dark chocolate lava cake for dessert.

Our usual evening briefing about the next day followed, and then I headed to the cabin to work on the blog.

This was the scene that greeted me out our cabin window. And then again an hour later after the sun had set.

Here’s the map of our ride.