Cycling trip to den Hague

Myself and five of my friends decided to do some biking yesterday ( 28 Aug 2010 ). I woke up at 6:30 had my bath and also had my breakfast and was ready to hit the roads of Delft & den Hague. I was clad in the proper cycling attire. The others were dressed up in jeans,sweaters and jackets. The initial plan was to start at 7:30 but usual delays pulled us back and we started from our place (Poptahof Noord) at 8:30.

We took the longer biking route adjacent to the highways. It was really amazing to ride down such a beautiful path. We crisscrossed many lakes and canals and then went staright ahead down the road. It is in fact just a straight road from Delft to den Hague. We cycled for about 90 minutes and we reached den hague. We could have reached there faster but we stopped now and then for taking photographs. The route was so scenic that we just couldn't stop admiring the beauty.

Once we reached den hague we decided to cycle another 5 miles to scheveningen beach. The day was quite sunny and little cold, perfect conditions for biking. We reached the beach at around 10:45 and parked our bikes on the hilltop. All of us were quite tired and decided to munch on some food before getting down into the sand. Vishwa and Praveen had packed some sandwiches, Bhramesh had got some fruit cake and I carried some bottles of water. We had nice little snack and then went down to the beach. It was the North Sea that we were looking at. The waters and the waves were quite serene compared to the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal.

All of a sudden the climate changed suddenly and we hit by some heavy showers. We could in fact see the clouds coming in from the see and envelope us. Thank God I had packed a raincoat inside my backpack. All of us had our raincoats and we were all well protected. The Dutch weather is very unpredictable so never mistake a sunny day thinking the weather will be fine all day.

After having a good time at the beach we decided to pay a visit to the Haagse Markt. This market is very famous in den Hague because we get good for comparatively cheaper prices than in the supermarkets. But one needs to make a cautious choice when selecting items because the items bought do not come with a receipt and its very alluring to buy more as the prices are very less. We also visited a small Indian grocery shop called "India Gate" from where I bought Moong Dal and Rice Flakes (for making poha or avul upma). It costed me 8.95 euros for these two items.

All of us were quite tired after this long cycle ride,visit to the beach and walking down the Haagse Markt. We decided to get back home and followed the tram route, we reached Delft in a shorter time. This was the first time I had biked for so long and it was truly an amazing experience. The separate bike roads, cold climate and natural greenery by the roads make biking a truly enjoyable experience in The Netherlands.