Trips, Tracks and Travels

We always wanted to get to Scotland, and this time it was our schedule. We crossed the Northsea from Ijmuiden to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and drove over the A1, along the coast, passing Edinburg straight to Milngavie, just North of Glasgow, to have a day in Galsgow - the town of the architect Macintosh - and be at the starting point of out walk along the West Highland Way, to Fort William and the Ben Nevis, Britains highest mountain.

We started the West highland way but got stuck after two days in Rowandennan - because we didn’t plan anything in advance, there was no accomodation, and the bar that did have a “bunkhouse” in Drymen, had their bus broken down. It ended up getting back - by taxi - to Milngavie. That afternoon it began to rain, it rained the next day when we drove to Fort William - during which drive ded encounter the wildlife we liked (but only leaned when lightening up the photograph at home) - to stay on the camping site down Ben Nevis. Here we planned for that last stretches of the path, climb the Ben Nevis and set off by bus to our next starting point: Crainlarich. We made that last part of the path.

After that, we went into the Borders area, close to the border with England, to visit some ancient times, closer to Newcastle. We had to make it in time to catch the boat back.

These are the images - day-by-day - of this holiday. You will find tracks in .GPX and .CSV format.

The Dutch railways offer the opportunity to walk from one station to the other. This is one of these walks, about 10 km in length, on a not-so-summy day some time ago. Just images to get some idea of the area (Salland)

These gardens, located in the open space between the large cities, are an oasis in the rural area. The gardens are open to the public and often visited to get idea and inspiration to design your own garden.

September - even on a fine day - is probably not the most preferable time to visit these gardens, but the time was well spent. Though the artwork exposed - all kinds of birds in metal, most just the contours but very distinctive - was more impressive than the gardens themselves.

I liked the owl - the big one, and the small owlets, most of all. But it was too expensive to buy….

These are the pictures of both the gardens and statues.

I still have to locate these gardens on a map to give you directons. Google didn’t reveal information…

Last spring, we started to walk the 90 kilometres of the Krijtlandpad, in the most southern part of the Netherlands. We made the round trip called the Eastern loop.
In September, we did the two remaining walks of this 90-Km regional path: Maastricht - Slenaken and Gulpen - Maastricht. We drove on the to the same camping where we stayed in Spring, and rode to Maastricht by bus and walked back. The next day we parked the car in Gulpen, walked to Maastricht and returned by bus. We decided against a round trip since we had done the shortcut between Slenaken and Gulpen before - and the whole stretch would be too far to do in two days - and for Franka anyway.

Maastricht - Slenaken is over 35 lkilometers, starting easy following the banks of the river Maas, next climbing the Margraten plateau, and hopping a few ridges to get to Slenaken - and then another 100m up the the camping site. Some slopes are rather steep, both up and down.

Gulpen - Maastricht is about 25 kilometers, and less strenouos. Most of the walk is over the plain and along the river, and most slopes are not very long nor steep.

The two walks are covered in images, both walks are covered in one .GPX file and in separate .CSV files for each walk Maastricht-Slenaken and Gulpen-Maastricht (not edited, so including all stops and swingles by the GPS unit)

We did the Marskramerpad in the Netherlands - The Hague-Anersfoort, Amersfoort-Deventer and Deventer-Oldenzaal, and the German Toddenweg connects to that. Officially, the part between Devemter and Oldenzaal is part of it, but since we did that before, we just took the part between Oldenzaal and Osnabruck, in a number of 2-day streches, in different directrions. This was mainly because of accomodation overnight.
Our iternary was:
Bad Bentheim - Oldenzaal ( 1 day)
Osnabruck - Mettingen - Hopsten (2 days)
Hopsten-Rheine and Bad Benthein- Rheine (2 days - we stayed in the Rheine Youth Hostel - that’s why we did the two parts in opposite directions.

This last stretch is kept in images.
These are the tracks of these walks:
Osnabruck - Mettingen (GPX)
Mettingen - Hopsten (GPX)
Hopsten-Rheine (GPX)
Bad Bentheim - Rheine (GPX)

We walked the “Drie Veren Tocht” - on paper, about 31 kilometres but my GPS said 35 - from Pannerden (some hall beyond the church) to Millingen on the other side of the Rhine and back via another route, close to the German border, using - as the name sugggest - 3 ferries: “Willem” crossing the Pannerdens Kanaal, taking across pedestrians, cyclists and cars, and two crossing the Rhine, just for pedestrians and cyclists.
Most of the route went through, or passed, lands that belong to the nature reserve named “Gelderse Poort”. Most of this is converted agicultural land, and on the Rhine banks, abandoned brick plants. These used the clay deposited by the river for ages, and these pits are now lakes aside the river.
The current riverbed of the river is not that old - just a few 100 years. Before, the iver flowed much more North, when curently the waters of the “Oude Ri”jn” - the Old Rhine - form the boundary between Germany and the Netherlands. There are many old riverbads and rdiges aside them, scattered everywhere, the difference in height is mostly mesured in tens of centrimters, there are just a few places where it reaches heights of a meter and more.

These are pictures taken during the walk, and these are the GPX and CSV files of the track.

The west of the Netherlands - the two provinces that are legally called “Holland” - is the lowest part of the country - the larger part below sea level. In years, it got lower and lower, the peat being harvested and water pumped out, causing the soil to shrink and getting even lower. The eastern strip had to be protected by dykes, but the west side contains sandy ridges - the utmost western one being the newest, highest and broadest. That is where the beaches are - and the dunes.

In the northern half of the province of Nooord-Holland the dunes are the broadest: about 3 miles. This is where public institutes, both nationwide and provincial, and both governmental or private) keep nature reserves. Staatsbosbeheer - the Dutch State’s Forest Commission) managers the dune area west of Schoorl.

We have gone there - took pictures and left our footsteps - which can be located in GPX or CSV format (Still to come…).

The regional Long Distance Path in the South of Limburg, called Krijtlandpad officially (as far you can call it that way) starts in the provincial capital Maastricht (that has it’s roots in the Roman Empire), going south to Eupen, then east over Slenaken to Vaals, and back west, over Gulpen and Valkenburg to Maastricht.
Between Slenaken and Gulpen, there is a shortcut, that allows to do the whole path in two loops: a loop from Maastricht over Slenaken and Gulpen back to Maastricht and a loop from Slenaken over Vaals and Gulpen back to Slenaken.
That is: if you follow the route couter-clockwise.

In spring - just after Eastern - we did the second (Eastern - how coincidental!) loop, clockwise. We set off in Vaals, hit the Dutch summit on the Vaalser Berg (321 m) where three borders meet, down to Slanaken were we camped overnight (close to Slenaken, in Heyenrade). The next day we took the shortcut (in the “right” direction) to Gulpen and crossed the Margraten Plateau back to Vaals.

Of course there are pictures, and the tracks in GPX (both walks in one file) and CSV format: The first and second walk.

The reminaing tracks are covered in the Western loop

In 2003, we spent just a few days in the very South of the province Limburg where we stayed on a camping site near Berghem, a village on top of a hill above Gulpen. From there we made a number of walks in the area.

To get an impression of the area, look in this place.

We walked all the way from Dion to Kalambaka in Northern Greece, in all about 150 km, in 10 days.
The journey started in Thessaloniki, where we arrived by plane from Cologne. We stayed a few days and walked around, looking at all the monuments of Greece’s past. Nest day, we traveled to the excavations of Dion, by train and bus, yo meet the rest of the group, including the “tour leader” - the Man with the Maps. That afternoon, we marched off to Litochoro - the gateway to the Olympus.
The next few days were spent getting up to the top (well, nearly), and down on the other side. From there, we crossed the hills and plains of the northern part of Greece, diverting (by bus and taxi) if theer was no accomodation - that is why we headed by bus to Elassona where we had a resting day (that was mainly spent - walking…).
Some of the group, Rita and I went to Katrini by taxi - the others had to do the same route because the small river they thought to cross turned out to have become a ravine in the years between the time the map was drawn, and the current day…(They did the last part from Katrini and taxi the next day).

Near Kalambaka are the famous monsateries on the cliffs - and some were visisted.
Back by train to Thessaloniki - in the pouring rain, after it had been nice and warm (hot) fro the rest of the trip.

This is the daily report - in maps and images.