Home Again

Yesterday was a long day but everything went so smoothly. Not even any air turbulence, while flying. We took a taxi to the Den Helder train station where there was only an automatic machine for tickets. A kind lady helped us with this and soon we were on a relaxing train ride to Amsterdam. We had to transfer at Slotermeer (something like that) to get to Schiphol airport. That place is a zoo. After lots of walking and a long wait we were on our flight to Heathrow. More waiting and walking there and then boarding that huge plane again for YVR. There was a lot of pushing and shoving with at least 500 passengers on that flight. Without sounding ungrateful, standards are slipping. The meal was not great. An unappetizing pasta concoction. Nice wine, though.

The following are some of my observations of the last few weeks, in Holland:

1. Holland has beautiful natural areas which are fiercely protected, yet available for anyone to enjoy.

2. Dutch people are generally very friendly and helpful.

3. Smoking is alive and well over there.

4. The sea is a great landmark (if that makes sense). When it is on your left you are going north.

5. Holland's coast is an endless beach (discovered by German tourists) , with well placed eating establishments overlooking the surf.

6. Restaurants serve the exact same menu wherever you are. On offer is tomato soup, onion soup, and mustard soup (who came up with that, anyway?). There are bitter ballen and croquettes (same thing but different form) and fries with everything. A tasteless version of apple tart with a huge blob of whipping cream is served everywhere. There must be a factory somewhere.

7. Bread is a staple and it is astoundingly fresh at breakfast. 

8. Signage was mostly good but not everywhere. Jeff's cell phone GPS got us out of a pickle more than once.

9. It is important to stay single file on one side of a bike path because more than bikes come whizzing by. 

10. Toilet facilities are not always where you expect them to be in a hotel room. So a small flashlight is handy at night, in case you forgot to take note before you fell asleep.

11. It does not always rain in Holland nor is the country consistently flat. 

Arriving at Land's End at Last

We had just 6 km to go, today, to arrive at the Land's End Hotel at the ferry terminal to Texel. We first walked below the dike with the churning sea to our left. There was a very stiff wind, but at our back. Soon, we decided to climb some stairs and walk on top of the dike. This was more interesting because now we could admire the sea on one side and the row housing of Den Helder on our right. After about one and a half hours we arrived at our accommodation and it was not even 11 am yet. We asked the reception girl about the town and she promptly told us that it was the dullest town in all of Holland. She strongly suggested that we take a train to Alkmaar or even Amsterdam!

Not to be deterred, we strode off towards what we hoped was the center of town. Den Helder is a naval town with not much else. We sadly had to concede that maybe the front desk girl had a point. We walked endlessly through tired little streets, trying to find some kind of town square with some action. We did find a shopping street in the end and had a bowl of soup somewhere while people smoked around us. 

Then the real fun began. We got completely disoriented and our 6 km day quickly turned into a 14 km day. While Jeff was trying to look at the GPS on his phone we were hit by a fierce wind and rain storm. It was coming at us sideways, as if to make up for the lack of rain all those previous days. 

Somehow, we found the big dike and were shocked to see Lange Jaap right ahead of us. We had left him behind forever this morning, so we thought. Once on the dike, we braved the storm and marched a good 45 minutes to our destination, the Land's End. We have a lovely room overlooking the sea and can watch the ferries come and go. There is even a kettle in this room so I'll make some tea now.

Tomorrow I will do one more blog to summarize the experience.

On to Huisduinen

Another lovely day but with a stiff wind from the west. We walked about 16 km today and started out through the flat polders, all land below sea level. For most of the morning we walked below a man-made dike but still high enough to get a good view of the farm land below us. Part of our route today was also a marathon route and we were asked to stay to the left of the path to make room for the runners.

After a lunch stop the route took us through a very quiet area of dunes, on a narrow shell path. Really lovely. From the west, to our left, we felt the wind and heard the soft roar of the sea. And far up ahead of us we could already see Lange Jaap, DenHelder's red lighthouse, the tallest in Holland.

It still felt like a rather long day but now we are settled in the Beatrix Hotel in Huisduinen. There is some construction going on outside. We said we did not mind and were given the "best" room in the place. There is a view of the sea but the windows are very dirty. Really dirty! Quite un Dutch, actually. So not much of a view. Except kind of a hazy one.  And below our window they are chatting and sawing and hammering. 

The trip continues to be an adventure!

Rest Day in Callantsoog.

Even though it rained last night, today is full on sun. We have a lovely view of farm land and a slough from our room. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then decided to hit the town, what there is of it. From the beach you cannot see it because it lies below sea level behind a dune. We strolled around until we came to a coffee place and sat in the lovely sunshine. We enjoyed the resident birds who patiently waited for people to leave in order to indulge in any left overs.

We decided to stroll on the beach and were assailed by a stiff wind from the southwest. Some guys were doing some maintenance on the rock piers sticking out into the ocean. Jeff had a chat with them about it. The piers help to bring in more sand as the beaches here are quite narrow. 

Then it was lunchtime and of course we had to sit in a beach house on stilts on the beach in order to have our noses right on the surf. The glass panels nicely kept the wind away from us. We decided to forego the croquettes today and ordered pancakes instead.

I also dipped into an Albert Hein store and admired the offerings with considerable envy!

Oh, yes. And Jeff got a hair cut at the Funny Hair Salon in town!

To Callantsoog.

For some reason we thought we would have a fairly easy day today. However, Jeff's watch and my Fitbit said that we walked 24 km today, including that long staircase at the beginning. A member of our party (we will not mention names) decided some shortcuts would be in order and we did not find our route back until about 1pm. We walked on country roads and on endless dikes, but always the sea to our left. So we knew we were going north, the way we needed to go. 

After getting very tired we suddenly came upon a lovely seaside Cafe, the perfect place to have some lunch. The beaches here are not very wide like they are further south, and it seemed that the waves were breaking right below us. But our final challenge of the day was a 5 km beach walk to get to Callantsoog. I thought, I can't do this anymore today. But flocks of birds, including some oystercatchers, distracted us enough to keep us going. Also, even though there was some surf, there was no wind at all and very mild. We have been so lucky with the weather. Before entering the town to look for our hotel we had a cool beer in a beach Cafe built on very high stilts. I can imagine what goes in here during a storm.

Altogether, another lovely day!