I didn’t think I’d admit this but we find ourselves in the ‘EasyHotel’ in The Hague tonight, because it was, as the name suggests, just the easiest thing to do. Gone are the days when I’d happily try every hostel in town to get the best bargain, Lonely Planet in hand, and ready to do some polite British-style haggling. A small child repeatedly shouting ‘I want a treat/wee/sandwich’ drills through the brain like no other noise and is something I’m prepared to avoid at any cost. After last night’s near torture of finding a hotel late in the day I saw a familiar orange banner and dispensed with the attempt to find the rather more rustic accommodation we were heading for..

The anticipated 15 miles from Leiden to The Hague was extended due to another couple of missing junction numbers and my husband’s desire to see ‘something historic’ on the way (I’m not sure what this was as I wasn’t really listening – I was trying to take a photo of a roundabout at the time). Nonetheless, it’s been another glorious day of beautiful canalside views, easy cycling and my first experience of ‘kroketten’ – a breadcrumbed, deep fried cheese/cream sauce filled snack: it’s not a health food.

The infrastructure shots of the day are 1) a stretch of parking protected path, which is simple and effective and 2) a cycle path adjacent to the pedestrian pavement, which was a challenge for our son to understand.

In ‘other infrastructure’ news – we’ve seen quite a few playgrounds on our travels in recent years but we loved this one in The Hague today for it’s imaginative use of shapes, rather than just formal ‘play equipment’ you tend to see in the UK. We were rather impressed by the queueing technique on display too..

Leiden to The Hague: something in the region of 20 miles in around 4 hours (including a brief stop for lunch).