Today we needed a plan.

We had to be at the ferry for 11:15 to cross the Rotterdam container port. For me, it was one of the highlights of the trip. I love that somebody once sat down with an idea, then turned it into a plan, and finally into something on an enormous scale.

The port itself is huge. Much of what the ferry went through sits on the Maasvlakte, an area reclaimed from the North Sea by dredging millions of tonnes of sand. Today it’s one of the largest and most automated container ports in the world, with vast terminals, driverless vehicles, huge cranes and some of the biggest ships I have seen.

Most of the planning for these holidays comes down to two simple things, how far we want to ride and the places we’d like to see along the way. Everything else fits around this.

Today that brought us to Scheveningen, the seaside resort just outside The Hague. That’s one of the things we’ve really enjoyed about this trip. We turn up with very few expectations and simply experience wherever we happen to be. Lots of Dutch locals and tourists, the beach was busy, the cafes were full and everyone seemed to be making the most of the summer evening.

Tomorrow we head north towards Haarlem before turning right to Amsterdam for a few days .