Rather long hiatus

A combination of a mom of three boys being very very busy, the weather not being very cooperative when we did manage to synchronise schedules, and finally a gallbladder that increasingly became truculent until it decided to bite. My gallbladder, that is. This resulted in gallbladder surgery in February 2010. I am still recovering, the proud possessor of a 2.5cm gallstone. My energy and fitness are slowly returning and I hope we will very soon be walking along the next part of the route!

Etappe 6: Schoonloo - Sleen, 24km

getting ready to walk again.
october 31 is the tentative date. we plan to walk the entire distance in one day.
it should be fantastic with the autumn colours!

Gasteren - Rolde - Schoonloo

Afstand moeten we nog uitzoeken.
Het was een lange wandeling.
Schitterend. Weer was ook fantastisch.








"De toren van Rolde ligt als een baken voor u"

Zuidlaren to Rolde.... um.... Gasteren!

The walk should have been 16km, turned out to be over 20km (estimate) and we never found Rolde. Took a wrong turning somewhere on the Ballooërveld and ended up going north, which led us to the wrong side. We exited where we should have entered. Reason was the changed route which we did not trust at that point (after a number of bad directions and signposts). So we staggered back to Gasteren and took the bus to Assen station. We were footsore and tired. Next time, we'll start off at the Ballooërveld and walk from there (we know now where we went wrong).

Drenthe is awesomely beautiful. I'd love to live there. Sam was brilliant - even though he was quite bolshie towards the end, lying down on the job whenever we paused for a few seconds and refusing to get up again... but he was easily bribed with a little piece of cheese.

He and Milan are now comrades for life.

Zuidlaren to Rolde - 9 November 2008

Okay, we are finally back on track.

Saturday 8 November Elma, Milan, myself and Sam the dog will depart from station Den Haag to Groningen. From Groningen we will take the bus to Zuidlaren. In Zuidlaren we will probably walk the 6km to the camping where we have booked a chalet for the night:
http://www.minicamping-dehofstee.nl/
We will call taxi Roelfsema @ 050-4096000 to pick us up at the camping on Sunday morning, and take us to the starting point in Zuidlaren.

Then, we walk. Probably dragging an unwilling Sam along for a good part of the way.
(I'll take many treats along for him to motivate)

In Rolde, we will take the bus to Assen and from there back home (I still have to check the exact route).

In Rotterdam, hobble the last half hour back home from the station.

16 km, should be quite a trek. I hope the dog can handle it.

There have been a few changes on the route, according to the site:

Etappe Zuidlaren - Rolde

Kaart 13-14, blz 47-49


Datum wijziging: 25 oktober 2008
Gemarkeerd: ja
Noodzakelijk: nee



De route vanaf de brug over het Schipborgse Diep tot en met het Ballooërveld is gewijzigd.

Richting Noord - Zuid.

kaart 13, regel 1.

Bij de bank verder rechtdoor tot T-kruising. Hier links, en verderop over de Aa gaan. Aan overzijde het bospad naar rechts vervolgen. Op kruising rechtdoor, op de volgende rechts. Pad volgen tot een vlonderpad naar rechts. Hier rechts, het wordt een pad door de velden. Einde, haakse bocht links, dan aan het einde op T-kruising links. Iets verder via een wildrooster het natuurreservaat binnengaan (honden niet toegestaan!) Op splitsing rechts houden, dan na een heuveltop, op splitsing links. U komt uit bij een hunebed.

Bij het hunebed links. Verderop brede zandweg met fietspad oversteken en iets naar rechts een smal pad nemen. Verderop rechts houden. Op kruising rechtdoor. Aan het einde voor een weiland rechts. Pad aflopen tot de verharde weg waar u rechts gaat. Aan het einde op T-kruising links Gasteren verder inlopen. Op kruising bij Y-2925 rechts richting Assen. Na huisnr. 24 rechts, via Gagels het dorp uitlopen. Na 200 m een karrenspoor naar links. Er volgt een bocht naar rechts. In de volgende bocht naar rechts linksaf naar de weg lopen en deze naar rechts volgen. De weg maakt een ruime bocht naar rechts. Ca. 500 m verder links via een slagboom het Ballooërveld opgaan.

Het zandpad volgen. Op splitsing links houden. Er volgt een haakse bocht naar rechts. Voordat het pad weer naar links buigt, rechts een smal pad kiezen. Verderop rechtdoor gaand de zandweg weer vervolgen. Zijpaden en invoegende paden negeren totdat na ca. 500 m naar links een brede zandweg afgaat, in de bocht staat een bordje "Galgenberg". Aan het einde van deze zandweg rechts, weer een brede zandweg. Op splitsing bij grafheuvel, links houden. Nu verder alle zijwegen negeren en steeds deze weg blijven volgen. De toren van Rolde ligt als een baken voor u.

Zie nu verder bij kaart 14, regel 10.



Richting Zuid - Noord.

kaart 14, regel 6.

Aanvankelijk gaat deze weg door open, in cultuur gebracht terrein. Daarna begint het Balloërveld. Na ca. 900 m komt er van links een breed pad bij en passeert u een grafheuvel (Stakenberg). Ruim 500 m verder een brede zandweg naar links inslaan. Einde rechts. Dan twee keer kort na elkaar op splitsing rechts houden. Daarna buigt het naar links en voegt er een breed zandpad van links in. Dan in een haakse bocht naar rechts, rechtdoor een klein pad nemen, even verder ligt links een waterplas. Aan het einde linksaf de zandweg vervolgen. Op T-kruising rechts. Dit pad nu uitlopen tot een verkeersweg.

Verkeersweg naar rechts volgen. Na ca. 1 km, vlak na een brug over het Gasterense Diep, links een smal pad nemen. Op splitsing voor akker rechts. Einde rechts, Gasteren in. Einde links, Westeinde, later Brink. Bij Y-2925 links, Oude Molenweg. Eerste rechts, Zandkampen. Op splitsing karrenspoor naar links. Waar dit naar rechts buigt links een smal bospad op. U loopt spoedig over de heide. Op kruising rechtdoor, zijpaden negeren. Brede zandweg met fietspad oversteken in de richting van een hunebed. (Honden niet toegestaan!) Bij het hunebed rechts. Dit pad geheel aflopen en via wildrooster het natuurreservaat verlaten. Voor een groot open veld karrenspoor naar rechts inslaan. Aan het einde buigt het naar rechts, u komt bij een vlonderpad. Einde vlonderpad links. Op kruising links. Uitlopen tot voetbrug over de Drentsche Aa. Water oversteken. Op Y-splitsing rechts. Een eindje verder staat op een open stukje een bank. Naar links slaat een zandweg af. Dit is punt / van deze kaart.

Zie nu verder bij kaart 12.
http://www.pieterpad.nl/

Update
Brrr. Hoop maar dat het in ieder geval droog blijft!

Hier de weerbericht voor zondag:

Zonkans: 30%
Neerslag: 60%, 6 mm
Min/max: 9/11°C
Wind: ZW 6

Saturday 12 July: Zuidlaren to Rolde, 16km

Elma, Milan and me. We'll be overnighting in Zuidlaren Friday night, next morning up bright and early to walk to Rolde. From Rolde, back home in the afternoon or evening.

16km in one day should be doable for us all.

Next leg of the journey is 20km, which we will split over two days.


Update: we did not walk after all on Saturday. Had to postpone, infernal toothache - Elma is out of commission. We'll first wait till her tooth problems are fixed before making another date. In the meanwhile, I'll walk the Kustpad which is LAW 5-2/5-3. I think I'll walk the first bit next weekend on the Saturday.

25 May 2008, Glimmen to Zuidlaren

Sunday

Total Pieterpad distance for the two days was 21 km but we walked a little bit more.
It was good that we split it over two days, good for our own feet and for the boys.
The Sunday, Nic and Luca walked as well. Luca did really well, next time he´ll come along on his bike with Nic.

We had cooler weather than on the Saturday and timed it really well because the first splatters of rain started to come down when we hit the outskirts of Zuidlaren. Of course we had a pancake stop when we came to the end point of the day´s walk. Then, on to Assen to the Chinese Terracotta Army exibit for Milan (school project).

It was a wonderful day and a lovely walk. The landscape of Drenthe is magnificent, we all are in agreement that we would love to live there.

Here´s an overview of the day:





Some movies shot on Suday:


Two playful horses, being egged on by the brothers:







And here are Elma's pictures (many taken by Milan, actually):

24 May 2008, Groningen to Glimmen

Saturday

We left by train on Saturday morning 20 to 10, arrived in Groningen just past noon. Ate something at Burger King and then we were on our way.
The weather was beautiful and the walk was magical.



Nic and Luca met up with us at the farmhouse where we stayed the night.
We had supper at an Italian restaurant in Zuidlaren, came home filled with good food and tumbled into bed, exhausted.

Here are some video's from Saturday.

Watching the bridge go up (Groningen)



Looking for the elusive cuckoo


Walking


Walking some more (sandy road):



Elma's pictures:

The next leg: from Groningen to Zuidlaren

This is a 21 km walk that we will be splitting over two days. Elma and I will be walking on May 24 and 25; probably Nic and the boys will come too. The distances are nice and short, 10 km a day, and we will include a visit to the Drents Museum in Assen to see the Chinese Terracotta army (one of Elma's boys is doing a school project on these figures and really wants to see this exhibit).

Day one we will probably walk from Groningen to a midway point (Paterswolde is a bit out of the way but looks like the best option so far). Day two we'll walk the rest of the way to Zuidlaren, of course visiting the well preserved G1 Hunebed (Dolmen) of Midlaren on the way (between Midlaren and Zuidlaren on the Schutsweg) - and having arrived in Zuidlaren we will probably go on to the museum in Assen by car, and after that drive back home.

I did some reading and found that there's a nice little wooded nature reserve called Appelbergen east of Glimmen which is quite popular. Through the woods runs a medieval highway, called Hoge Hereweg. There are two Hunebedden (Dolmen) in this wood but they were destroyed quite some time ago. It seems that during WW2, some 20 to 30 Dutch people were executed and secretly buried in this forest. The bodies have not been found yet despite much searching.

We will be moving from Groningen province into Drenthe, crossing the provincial boundary just south of Noordlaarderbos. This forest forms the barrier between the Hondsrug ridge and the Drenthse Aa river valley. We should be able to see the change from clay grounds in Groningen to the sandier soil of Drenthe, the landscape should also become more undulating and wooded as we move into Drenthe.

We will be walking along the Hondsrug, a long sand hill which was pushed upwards by gletchers back in the Saalien ice age. Hondsrug does not refer to a dog as the name first suggests, but to the Hunze river which runs through that area. The first part of the route will go along the Noord Willemskanaal, a very old waterway (canal) and one of the city of Groningen's main traffic arteries in the old days.


We'll be overnighting in Glimmen, over here. It looks wonderful!

Pieterburen to Garnwerd (16 km) on Saturday, 26 April 2008

Day one and it would not be a journey of mine if things did not go wrong.

I was supposed to transfer on station Gouda(!) to the intercity train that Elma was already travelling on. The train announcement said, cross over to platform 5 and get on the train to Utrecht, as we pulled into the station. So I did... into the stoptrain to Utrecht and not the intercity I should have been on. Elma had to get off her train in Utrecht to wait for me, or travel all the way to Groningen on her own. She waited, we met up and then we went all the way to Station Baflo where we waited for the Regiotaxi (which was half hour late!). Meanwhile, the man from the local VVV saw us standing there and regaled us with all kinds of information and he also gave us a couple of brochures to take along. That was very kind of him, we saw many of the things he described all along the route!

The regiotaxi took us to Pieterburen at breakneck speed (no wonder you never see any children outside in the little villages along the route... they had been yanked indoors by terrified parents!!!)

We started out quite late on day one and we had 16 km to walk, so we set off at a brisk pace and did not stop along the way until we hit Winsum. The pace was not so brisk at first but after the fifth group of geriatric walkers left us in a cloud of dust, we picked up speed. We managed to arrive in Winsum before a pair of very nice old ladies, which gave us some relief: we were not last!

Had some lovely apple pie and coffee sitting in the sun on a terrace in Winsum, then we continued on to the last leg of the day's journey. The first bit was fun, walking along a sloot, over fields and past some very bored horses, but after that it was less pleasant. We were walking on the verge of a very busy road with impatient cars whizzing past. Happy to arrive in Garnwerd, my tongue dragging on the road by that time, we looked for our overnight address and found it without any trouble. We then tottered off to see a bit of the old town and eat something at the local cafetaria. Uitsmijter (two slices of bread, three eggs runny yolks, thinly sliced ham, onion rings, fried mushrooms and some guilt salad), tea, glass of rose each and finally decadent ice cream on the banks of the canal sitting on a wooden bench watching the cows come home. Heaven!

We went to sleep earlier than I had done in years, around nine! Slept well, aside from the few mosquitoes that decided I was a nice snack.



For me, it was a lovely flat green countryside with many meandering little streams which (thank you VVV guy) by their very curves prove that they are the original natural waterways (farmers make straight lines, nature goes in bends and whorls) from back in the days when this province was regularly inundated by very high tides and storms.

Elma took some lovely pictures:

Voordeelurenabonnement

I applied for a Voordeelurenabonnement online, a few minutes ago. To my disgust it will only be valid from May 5 at the earliest. Seems it takes that long for the NS (Dutch Railway) to get one little card made. Hmph. My passport was more quickly created than that.

This means that it will be a really expensive trip next weekend. Perhaps we should look into leaving very early on the Saturday morning then, instead of overnighting in Pieterburen the night before. That will shave at least 23 Euro off the total cost of the weekend, per person.

So far, it seems it will be only Elma joining me this coming weekend, though others plan to join in along the way. Elma is determined to walk the entire Pieterpad as well.

Weather looks very promising. I can hardly wait.
This week I'll be organising a sleepover place in Winsum, and figuring out the train timetable so we can leave REALLY early on Saturday.


I just checked on 92920v.nl:
From Den Haag Centraal to Winsum will cost € 32,80 for a single, € 41,70 for a return ticket. With discount it would have been € 19,70 and € 25,00. Then we still need to take the bus from Winsum to Pieterburen, that's 4 strips and will cost € 1,84. Disgruntled does not even begin to cover it...

Well. It is what it is.

I figure we should buy a return ticket Den Haag Centraal to Groningen (valid for the weekend), and a single from Groningen to Winsum. If we leave from Den Haag Centraal at 6.36 from track 4, we should reach Pieterburen around 10.00 in the morning. Ouch. Three and a half hours travel on train and bus-taxi before walking one meter, that will have us feeling quite shattered...

The alternative is to choose to kick off in style, and overnight in Pieterburen on Friday night after all. I'll talk it through with Elma - my first instinct is to go Saturday morning. Friday after work, three and a half hours train etc is no picnic either.

Pieterpad planning: the routes and distances

These are the routes and distances for the first part of the Pieterpad, from Pieterburen to Vorden (taken from the official Pieterpad site):

	From	To	km
1	Pieterburen	Winsum	11
2	Winsum	Groningen	18
3	Groningen	Zuidlaren	21
4	Zuidlaren	Rolde	16
5	Rolde	Schoonloo	19
6	Schoonloo	Sleen	23
7	Sleen	Coevorden	19
8	Coevorden	Hardenberg	19
9	Hardenberg	Ommen	22
10	Ommen	Hellendoorn	20
11	Hellendoorn	Holten	15
12	Holten	Laren (Gld)	15
13	Laren (Gld)	Vorden	14

Pieterpad background info and planning

The Pieterpad is not an ancient Dutch route as one might think. It was thought up between 1975 and 1981 by two enthusiastic old ladies who loved to walk: Toos Goorhuis-Tjalsma and Bertje Jens. They wanted the Netherlands to also have it's own LAW and so they designed this route to run from Pieterburen on the Wadden coast of Groningen to Sint-Pietersberg (snort. yes, Sint Pieter's Mountain, it's a sort of limestone hillock, a mountain by Dutch standards and geologically quite an interesting area with caves to explore) in Maastricht. The "Pieter" at the beginning and end is where the route got it's name from. One could choose to continue walking from Sint-Pietersberg, and follow the GR 5 straight to the Mediterranean.*

Who knows, I might.


This route is about 485km long has been split into two parts. Part 1 goes from Pieterburen to Vorden in 13 segments and is 232 km long. Part 2 goes from Vorden to Pietersberg in 14 segments and is about 256km long. Each segment is a daytrip of on average 15 - 20 km which is very much doable.

So, the entire route will take 27 days to complete from start to finish. If I walk it in two day weekend segments, that should take about 13 weekends to complete. Less, if I schedule in a long weekend here and there. The distance per day is quite short so it's more of an amble than a walk. All of it on fairly even surfaces... I can see myself easily doing three segments over a weekend instead of two, especially with the shorter ones. I'll wait and see though, before I try to push too hard.

I would like to start walking this month already. Best would be on the 26th April (oh dear, hope for good weather!). This is not brain surgery and does not need much planning but it gives me time to buy the walking guides next weekend and read up a bit on the route. Clothing, backpack etc are all things I already have.

I'm quite excited!


* I got this information from the official Pieterpad website.