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| Agriculture and the Dutch go hand in hand (Dairy too) |
This time we walked in the Achterhoek, which literally translates to 'behind corner'. It lies to the easternmost part of the Gelderland, quite close to the German border actually. Two distinct attraction stood out here, the first a beautiful Shirelike creek forest (or woods I'm not sure) and a book town. You can view the map
here. I must add the map was courtesy of the Opa, the luxuries of walking 40 km starting and finishing off at Opa and Oma had immense benefits that come with pampering, a preplanned route as well as being fed delicious rich meals.
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| Is it a..?.no its a horse in a zebra print, you gotta love animal prints! |
Our walk took us into a book town. This cute little town called Bredevoort was the loveliest thing and had a mere 1600 inhabitants.
It was literally a book town. Mainly because walking through the cobbled streets you see books upon books outside peoples homes, sometimes with no one manning them and a sign saying ''all books 1 euro'' and a basket to place your fare. I love it!
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| Books galore! |
Walking through this little town I couldn't help but think of our very own South Sudanese Leaves Bookstore back home. If you ever find yourself in Juba; visit
Leaves and expect the unexpected.
Speaking of books, we march on Tuesday 15th and I have downloaded a few
audio books to keep me entertained during the four days; currently I'm
looking forward to listening to ''Lagacy of the Drow'' and the
adventures of Drizzt Do'Urden. Three books I read in 2004. If your going
to walk for eight hours or so, nothing beats a fantasy world with
fascinating fighting scenes and unworldly lifestyles.
Inhabitants outside major cities in the Netherlands are usually more friendly although their English tends to be thicker than their city fellows yet interacting with the lady who lived in one of these houses showed a fluent accent. It must be all the books :)
As we left this pretty little town, it was time for a break.
We sat on a bench where there happened to be a photo shoot happening right in the vicinity, it appeared to be a good spot to have a break at the time.
Unfortunately birds in the branches above decided it was convenient to release their bowels atop my head, shoulders and back.
Bird droppings are tough to get off too. Ill be scanning the trees next time I decide to pick a resting spot!
Following the lovely book town we came upon the forest Bekendelle. It was a warm and sunny day and the forest shade provided cool and comfortable tranquility. Its always nice to walk into a natural forest in the Netherlands, the symmetrical lines within the tree lines in other woody areas always appear to be planned and ordered with a sense of industry.
The forest also brings into hearing a variety of sounds. Being here made me wonder; throughout nature be it amongst plants, mammals, reptiles, birds or whatever, we
see the male species colorful and primmed, shiny in their appearance
and pleasing to the eye, others of magnificent plumage or dazzling in
their own multitude of colour, why then are we humans different where an
attempt to groom oneself is considered abnormal and strange, sometimes
even gay; instead this tantalizing bit of vanity is reserves to us
females.
It was so quiet in the forest, the above creek was so clear and I believe the vegetation predominant at the base of the photo to be Pioson Ivy. This plant if in contact with naked skin causes irritation and itchiness. Warnings may warn of redness of the skin, if you cannot see any redness, then look out for irritant itchiness.
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| Scary crossing |
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| This camera does not give the flowers credit, their real colour was so bright! |
