Amersfoort; Friday, 07 July, 2017

Having worked from home in the morning I had the afternoon booked off so I was able to travel down to Gatwick on a relatively uncrowded afternoon train.

A smooth journey through the airport and down to the plane, with the only hiccup being a slight delay in starting boarding which meant we were 10 minutes late leaving the stand. However, we appeared to have parked almost on the runway as there was barely time for the crew to give the high speed version of the safety talk before the plane was accelerating down the runway and heading for the skies.

Clearly we had a hefty tail wind, or the timetable assumes a much longer taxi at Gatwick, as we landed in Amsterdam 25 minutes ahead of schedule – albeit with a good 5 mile taxi back to the terminal building.

Again a smooth journey through the airport and down onto the station where I had about 10 minutes to spare before my train to Amersfoort.

I walked the kilometre or so from the station to the hotel and after checking in a dropping off my bags in my room I headed out into town for a wander.

My first stop – and probably most people’s arriving in Amersfoort was the stunning Koppelpoort, the combined land and water gate that protected the city and the entrance to it’s canal system. From there I wandered through the picturesque city centre, past several beautiful squares and on to the Onze Lieve Vrouwetoren the third highest church tower in The Netherlands, albeit that the church itself is long gone – destroyed in the 18th century in a gunpowder blast.

I stopped at one of the many restaurants in the square around the tower for a light dinner before heading back to the hotel and turning in for the night.