Day #2 on the Pieterpad/12.63 miles–

Once again I wasn’t able to fall asleep until almost 2:00 a.m. Ugh–I need to sleep! Liesbeth and Jesse greeted me this morning with a delicious breakfast and warm conversation. They are such gracious, giving people. We discovered that we had many shared interests, and it was hard to pull myself away and leave.

Today I walked 12.63 miles. I was supposed to walk 15 1/2 miles, but I’ll get to that little detail soon enough. I walked though the city of Gronigen along the canals, which were lovely. Then I entered the Drenthe province, which is very sandy soil, making walking so easy. During this phase, I mostly walked through woods and fields.

If you’ve hiked a long-distance trail before, you’ll probably relate to the special attachment one gets to the trail markers. You look for them, they guide you, and they become an integral part of the journey. The trail markers seem to ebb, flow, and change the same way the landscape does.

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It started to rain when I had about three more miles to go, but Frank must have been in a good mood, for there, right before my eyes was a restaurant that had tables and umbrellas outside. As I waited for the storm to pass, I began talking to my waitress about my plans, which included finishing the last stretch and getting on a bus to Vries, the site of my second couchsurfing reservation.

My waitress decided to play weatherman and kept coming back to my table to inform me on the status of the storm. Finally she came back and said, “We have another plan for you. There is going to be a tiny break in the weather and we are going to tell you how to go to a different bus station, which should give you just enough time before the rain starts again.” The ‘we’ she mentioned was another waitress and the owner, who she had brought in on my plight. She drew the directions on the back of a napkin and sent me on my way. Their plan worked! I arrived at the bus station moments before the rain began again, and a mere six minutes before my bus arrived! Moral of the story….Talk to the locals!

My couchsurfing hosts tonight are an older couple named, Wietske and Jan Eppo. They live on a farm with horses, chickens, and a barn owl!

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Like my hosts last night, they made me a home cooked Indonesian meal, but this one was called Bami. It was a vegetarian version made with tofu, noodles and vegetables and served alongside an omelette made from their own fresh farm eggs. We had Vla for dessert, but this time it was caramel and vanilla. I will not be hiking tomorrow, because prior to my arrival Wietske had invited me to stay another day and bike with her in the countryside. Of course I couldn’t pass that up!

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Day #1 on the PP: 17.40 miles–

I’m really struggling with jet lag and I had another night of very little sleep. I couldn’t fall asleep last night and remember staring at the ceiling at 2:00 a.m. I was greeted with a wonderful breakfast which was a nice way to start the day. I hit the road at 8:30, which was later than I had planned, but you ‘gotta do what you gotta do’. Sleep was far more important.

I already knew that the Netherlands was a beautiful country, but today showed herself as breathtakingly beautiful–which as you might guess is an entire different level of beauty. It is flat–approximately 3/4 of the country is below sea level-but contained in all of that ‘flatness’ is a much more varied landscape than I had previously imaged.

If the vast fields dotted with livestock and cradled by canals as far as the eye can see are the canvas, than wildflowers, windmills, farms, gardens, and quaint villages are the medium in which an artist must crave.

Each mile was more beautiful than the last. It was overcast and gray this morning when I started off, but fortunately the rain held off and it was sunny by noon. On at least three separate occasions, peasants explosively took off from the fields beside where I was walking. They flap hard and fast on take off, creating a rather scary sound when you aren’t expecting it! I literally yelped out loud each time it happened!

Later in the day, the trail seemed to end at a fence. I stopped in my tracts, perplexed. Then I realized a small step was built into the fence leading me to believe that I was supposed to climb up and over it. I literally stood there for at least five minutes trying to decide if I should do it, or wondering if I had some how had made a mistake and this wasn’t the trail at all. I finally decided to climb into the field with the slight worry of being attacked by a crazy cow. It turned out that I made the right move and the only thing that I had to worry about were some docile sheep munching on grass.

At one point, at around the 14 mile mark a mailman pulled over to the side of the road to deliver a package. Even through closed windows I could hear his music, “Money for nothing and the chicks for free…” He rolled down the window and yelled, “Moi (which means hello),” followed by a string of other words that I couldn’t understand.

I replied, “Moi, but I speak English.” My reply prompted him to motion for me to come closer.

We talked for a few minutes and than he told me that I was walking the Pieterpad the wrong way. I must have looked concerned because he continued and explained, “You’re walking in the right direction, but you need my music to keep you company! That’s the ‘right’ way to walk!” He really made me laugh!

Tonight was my first night of couch surfing and I’m staying with a family of 5—a mom and dad and three lovely girls. (Jesse, Liesbeth, Lianne, Irene, and Judith). Everyone is so friendly, and its so enjoyable staying with a Dutch family. Jesse made a wonderful dinner called nasi, which is an Indonesian stir-fried pork and vegetable dish, and served with a side of rice. Indonesian food seems to be very popular here.

We had vla, which is a Dutch dairy product for dessert and Liesbeth just told me that we are having warm stroop waffles soon—yum! We are all sitting in the living room, and the kids are watching the new Cinderella movie with subtitles. This is so pleasant and comfortable.