Tuesday 4 May : arriving in Newcastle

Yesterday we left from IJmuiden harbour in The Netherlands. The sea was quite rough and during the first hours big waves were crashing the ship from the north. The 'King of Scandinavia' from DFDSSeaways is a big ship but the movement of the ship did put another dimension to walking. One big step forward, two to the right and other variations. Gillean and I didn't get seasick and we slept well regarding the circumstances.
This morning we arrived in sunny Newcastle upon Tyne. Our goal was Ratagan YH near Shiel Bridge. We started driving at 9.45am and followed the A1 towards Edinburgh. Of course (?) it started to rain as soon as we crossed the border with Scotland.
At 4pm we arrived at Shiel Bridge, it had dried up and there was occasionally sunshine.
Tomorrow we'll drive to Skye.  

7 days and counting

Next Monday we'll be leaving Holland. We is I and my 11 year old son Gillean. Our ferry leaves IJmuiden on the third of May at 6 o'clock in the evening. On Tuesday we'll arrive in Newcastle and drive to Shiel Bridge to spend the night in Ratagan YH. The next day we continue driving all the way to Glen Brittle, Skye, and hopefully do some good walking in the Black Cuillin. We'll be there for 5 days after which we'll move onto Glencoe for two days and after that another two days at Loch Lomond YH. The Cobbler will be our main hill over there. The longterm weatherforecast says 'unsettled', so everything is normal.

Have you noticed ....

.... this colour in the sky ? Without any condensation stripes from aeroplanes at all !
No noise from planes on a sunny day. Incredible. I live roughly 30km from Schiphol Airport where 45 thousend people arrive or leave (or do both) every day.
Thank you Volcano !

All dressed up ...

Just to show my favourite shade of green.

A Sunday walk : Black Mountain

Of course this is the Dutch meaning of 'mountain', a hill at least 5 meter higher then its surroundings. She Who Has To Be Obeyed, kids (Those Who Have To Obey) and dog and humble me went for a sundaymorning walk south of Hilversum.

We parked the car near nature reserve 'Zwarte Berg'. Much to our surprise we encountered total destruction. In The Netherlands Ecological Connection Zones are being constructed for flora and fauna to be able to migrate more easily from one area to another. Nearby this Distruction Area a new Ecoduct will be build crossing a busy local road. A many millions costing project and therefore you need to destroy nature of course.

The kids loved it. Climbing up and down those heaps of black earth and nobody telling you to keep your clothes clean. It reminded me of my youth when building sites weren't fenced in.
It's just a bloody disgrace old pinetrees had to be killed to 'save' nature.

In Holland nature is 'managed'. How much does that cost (us) ? 100 million Euros ? Each year. And how many years will they be managing ? 10 ? A 100 ? THOUSEND YEARS ? Nature will take over eventually so my advise is : give up managing right now. It's a battle humans can't win.

21st of March : spring has started

Not only on my calendar but also in real life. Yesterday was mostly cloudy with some very heavy downpours at the end of the day but today the temperature reached a staggering 14 degrees Celsius with a lot of sunshine.
A perfect day to go to the Soestse Duinen with my eldest son and our dog Atilla. The Soestse Duinen are part of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug : a ridge of sand deposited during the ice-age period of the Saalien. During the last ice-age, the Weichselien period, the ridge became partly covered by sand due to the dominating westerly winds. Heather and forests formed after the ice had definitely retreated but after the introduction of men and cattle most of it disappeared. The wind formed 'walking' sanddunes even covering small settlements. During the last 100 years or so vegetation and trees got hold again of the sand and nowadays the dunes have to be protected by cutting down the trees and removing vegetation.

Normally the dunes are completely dry but because of the cold and long winter the ground isn't very permeable at the moment. I've never seen so many 'lakes' here, only the lowest point contains some water after heavy rains.

It was a surprise for me and a very enjoyable one for Atilla who likes to swim. Gillean, my son, tested his new goretex lined Lowe boots he will be using in Scotland in May.
Despite the 'lakes' there was still enough loose sand to train the muscles.
A lot of people with dogs used this beautifull day for walking and some for horseriding. Atilla likes to run at topspeed (he's fast for a big dog) for hundreds of yards towards horses and once close he comes to the conclusion it really is a big animal and returns at topspeed again.

Still winter

Meteorologically speaking it's spring but at 9.46 am it's 0 degr. Celsius and feeling bitterly cold. No hint of green leafs at all atm. I'll use this old beechtree as reference and will return here regularly this year.