17 From The Hague to Bloemendaal aan Zee - Dunes, Sun, Beach & Sea

After a very restful night in the guest bed, I had delicious porridge on the balcony of my Warmshower hosts in the morning before I had to say goodbye again.

However, since I knew that a great route through the dunes and along the sea awaited me, I couldn't wait to get back on the bike at the same time.

After cycling a few more kilometers through The Hague and admiring fancy villas, I was back in the middle of the dune landscape in no time. Although it was still cloudy, I was immediately thrilled and had to make thousands of stops to enjoy viewpoints and take photos and videos.

For lunch, I chose a section where I could get relatively close to the beach by bicycle and I was so happy with my choice that I stayed there for several hours. In the meantime, the sun had also come out, so 'overjoyed' would be an almost understated description of my mood ;)

Since almost the entire coast consists of national parks, bird sanctuaries, and general nature reserves, which ruled out wild camping for me, but I still wanted to sleep in a tent again, I decided to treat myself to a campsite for the first time on my trip just in time for the 'corona reopening'. (By the way, this is also the first time that I have paid for accommodation on my trip so far). And it was a direct hit! Located in the dunes, very cool natural division of the pitches, the whole space for myself, modern sanitary facilities, and less than 10 minutes' walk through the dunes to the beach <3

So I booked two nights there right away to be able to enjoy everything properly.

After setting up the tent and cooking dinner, I went straight back to the beach to admire the sunset :)

The next day it was quite cloudy, but perfect for exploring the Kennemerduinen National Park adjacent to the campsite. So I took a short hike through the beautiful, hilly dune landscape with some small lakes and was amazed when I absentmindedly looked to the right and suddenly saw a huge bison lying on the meadow... Fortunately, it was not at all disturbed and I could simply pass by. However, my pulse had briefly shot up :D

I walked back along the beach, relaxed a bit in the dunes, and returned to the tent just in time when heavy rain set in. Fortunately, my tent is reliable, so I was able to make myself comfortable inside and fell asleep immediately after a small dinner to the sound of raindrops on the tent fly.