Day 5 - Den Oever

The chimes from the church steeple carry me through the night. I hear them every hour, then the bright calls of early morning birds and the first hints of daybreak. Finally, just before 5am I fall asleep. What kept me awake for the better part of the night? The espresso I had to pick up my energy? Or a growing feeling of dis-ease in my body.

Johan feels it too, though he sleeps better. Something’s not right. Our throats are scratchy and for me, a persistent cough that digs deep into my chest.

The breakfast at this B&B is probably one of the best we’ve had but my taste-buds have grown listless and I struggle to keep from disturbing the other guests with my coughing. When we’re finished we walk to a nearby pharmacy for some cold medicine and Covid tests. The results of the tests are disturbing: I’m positive; Johan’s negative. How can this be? With similar symptoms and starting points, shouldn’t we have the same diagnosis?

And where does one stay in a foreign land when one gets Covid? I feel a sense of panic: no one will want us to stay in their inn if they know we’ve got Covid. Johan rings the host of the Vrienden op de Fiets place we’re meant to spend the next two days. Miraculously she is easy about the positive test and is happy for us to stay there as long as we need. My guardian angel! The room is a self-contained apartment in their former horse stables out the back. We can stay out there without having any contact with them.

The 20kms ride in heavy wind is straight as an arrow up the coastline from Medemblik to Den Oevre, the gateway to the Afsluitdijk. The mighty dike is under re-construction and closed to bicyclists, but we can put our bikes on a free bus ride across the 30 mile expanse, which will do in two days time.

Last night’s accommodation was a peak in luxury for us, so the converted horse stable apartment is a deep dive – a piecemeal apartment of mismatched furnishing that could use a good tidy up. But it’s got everything we need for a two night’s stay while we get to the other side of Covid, including a washing machine and kitchen. Our host is pragmatic and prudent, but with an obvious big heart; why would she be so accommodating to sick guests otherwise?

Johan rides off to Hippolytushoef, 6kms down the road, to visit his long-time friends Henny and Gerrit while I stay home and nurse a stubborn cough.