Muiden’s pretty great: there’s a bridge that turns around to let boats pass and everything

Last Sunday afternoon was sunny. So we set out for a mild adventure. We’re not really outdoorsy people, but we do like fresh air and sunshine. And neither of us hate exercise. So we cycled to Muiden in spring, even though it’s more famous in winter.


Within literally minutes of stepping out our front door we were in a park, on a green belt. We only got a little lost.

We had lunch and watched some boats pass through the lock

We’re not serious cyclists – we know because we were passed by a fair few of them on the way and they looked nothing like us.

But we cycled by lakes and canals and streams and sheep and along ridges over the 14 or so kilometres, and in less than an hour we were there. We ended up in the pleasant port town, complete with a castle, and had lunch by the water in the sun.

Muiden is part of the defenses of Amsterdam, hence the cannon
It only took us the afternoon, and though it was relatively low impact, by the time we got home we felt like we’d earned an evening watching a movie on the couch. 
It was pretty great to be able to hop on our bikes and in a few minutes be on an adventure, and in less than an hour be in a new city. That’s a wonderful thing about the scale of the Netherlands. And not skipping out to some podunk suburb; Muiden felt like a new place too. A completely different – yet still totally Dutch – town.
We saw a lot of sheep too. they were all eating grass
The ride back to Amsterdam was even better than the ride there: more sheep, more sun and fewer cars. Highly recommended.