Neeltje Jans is an island that was made by hand. It did not exist before the barrier works, when engineers built it as a working platform in the middle of the Eastern Scheldt, a place to build the concrete piers and gates of the storm surge barrier. When the barrier was finished, the island became a museum, and it still hosts Delta Expo, an exhibition about the Delta Works that includes the original equipment used to build them. The huge machines and the giant concrete pillars stored there give you a sense of scale that the road crossing never quite can.
Visiting the island is a natural pause on the Zeeland ride. There is a car and motorbike park, a restaurant and a café, and a water park that fills with families in summer. From the exhibition you can walk out on part of the barrier itself and see the gates from below, and when the weather permits, boat trips take you out to see seals on the sandbanks. The engineering society of the United States once named the Delta Works among the seven wonders of the modern world, a claim the Dutch mention with modest pride.
The wind is constant. On a calm day, it is mild, but a stiff breeze brings a chill and sometimes a harsh, drenching rain that arrives sideways. Ride with a windproof jacket and take care on the exposed causeway, where gusts can catch you. Traffic is light in winter and heavier in summer, when day trippers and holidaymakers head for the beaches of Zeeland. The roads are well kept and flat, and the surface is generally excellent.
Landscape is the other attraction: wide skies, mudflats, wheeling birds, and the long line of the barrier disappearing into the haze. Bird watchers come in autumn and winter for geese and waders, and in clear light the whole estuary has a silvery look. Mussels and oysters are the local specialities, and the cafés here serve them in season with fries and a cold beer.