May 24, 2025

 Saturday. Blacksmith. KMC. 9:30 start at the Markt in Steenbergen. Overcast, mostly, rain in the forecast, fairly mild still. Koos himself, and the likes of Axel Merckx, Cees Bal, Aad van den Hoek, Bart van Est, Adrie van Houwelingen, Maarten den Bakker. Also some younger, stronger guys (not that the older ones can't keep up). Fast pace, big group--hardly any time to look around. Dikes, bridges, bike paths, occasional large bodies of water. Roughly tracing the Steenbergse Vliet to Schelde-Rijnkanaal and across for a little bit of Zeeland. Wind-aided to Oude Tonge, then rest stop at Galanthese Haven. Cool little band playing under a canopy: guitars, drums, singer, and ... a tuba. That didn't quite work, but it was fun. Still peeing when the group got going again, so a little chase for good measure. It started to rain about 90 minutes in. Slick roads in Ooltgensplaat, and a few crashes, but then the pace went up going across the Volkeraksluizen toward Dinteloord. It kept raining, the guys didn't like it, and being from around there, they knew where to turn right (it was at the Steenbergseweg) for the beeline back to the Steenbergen Markt. The rain is more than welcome, but not so much on a day like today.