March 20th to 23rd, 2016

 March 23,  497 kilometres walked in 19 road days. Today: 32km/ 20 miles to my finish in Lingen at the train station. I crossed into Germany at a small border town, which had a sandy road and just the German flag painted on a post.
It was a beautiful day and I felt ' comfortably tired!' Waiting for my hosts Marja Neufeglise Meier and Paul to arrive. I am going to stay with them two more nights as tomorrow I will have a 25k walk from where I finished to their house, Paul will accompany me. And then on Friday at the end of my day they are going to commute me back, so no pushing Karma for a couple of days.
 




March 22,  Monday 40 km walked, so far today 39; I may do a few more. I actually had a long drag of a hill almost 1km long just before I arrived in Ootmarsum, I couldn't believe it, a hill in Holland!
Am in Tilligte and less than an hour and a half away from Germany and from crossing Holland, my second country! This morning I was awoken by the cops as someone had seen me and reported me to them! It's illegal in Holland to camp outside of a campsite or place where permission has not
Been obtained. They were nice guys, after showing them my passport and the magic letter they asked if they could follow me on Facebook!!
Tomorrow I will walk to Lingen and be a guest of Marje and Paul. Marja Neufeglise Meier is the sister of Chris Meier who was my kind host in Zeist. They have very generously offered me a couple of nights and will commute me, so no pushing Karma!!
Ps note the last photo with the sign that says.. " Te Koop" Well, on my first day in Holland I saw such a sign and thought Te Koop meant ' tea house' To my embarrassment I discovered it meant ' for sale!'


 

March 21,  On Sunday I continued my walk from Berneveld to a location in a National Park just North of Apeldorn, 31kms walked. Part of the way I walked with my ultrarunning friend Peter Rietveld who entertained me with stories I his cycle across Australia and how he hit the road very early each day to collect a few kilos of road kill kangaroo steak! Then we both got talking about competition... "What's your 24 hour best distance" he asked. 228.299km I said. All Peter could remember was his 228. So he rushed home to check, we were having so much fun that we forgot to take photos! Later he texted back 228.160, s••t so close! However, Peter stopped with twenty minutes to go when he broke the record he was chasing. He was wondering what to do and just stood there! I'm still scratching my head, well 230km is a big one! Peter is the true champ, an a great guy who does much medical volunteer work including for MSF in the past.
This morning I stopped in McDonald's on the outskirts if Apeldorn for a double breakfast.
It was nice to see a man take his dog inside, as is the culture in so much of Europe and many pubs in the UK have dog bowls! I could never understand why this is not the case in Ireland. frown emoticon

Thanks to Jelle and staff for filling up my thermos for the road!

March 20,  I had a great 32km/ 20 mile walk today in the company of Nitish Zuidema a Sri Chiminoy ultra runner, who was good enough to slow down and join me for the entire day! We walked through a beautiful forest and even came across a pony just one metre tall!
Holland is famous for being a flat country. The highest point in Utrecht province where I am currently walking is just 69 metres above sea level. In my last province, Zuid-Hollands record is only 36m. And Groningen has the lowest altitude at only 14 metres! The highest point in the country is in Vaalserberg with a backbreaking 322 metres. And believe it or not the real record high for Holland is on the Caribbean Island of Saba. Mount Scenery, a Dutch territory is a whopping 877 metres above sea level!
Most of today was on cycle paths as far as Barneveld. Holland and Germany have a fantastic navigation system on these trails. Simply put, the cyclist (or hiker) can plan their route using a list of numbers which correspond to particular junctions. Having printed out the numbered route order it is a simple process to follow ones desires route all the way to the final destination.
At the end of our day, my host Chris, picked us at Barneveld train station. Tomorrow I will return to the same place to walk to Apeldorn. Once again thanks so much to Chris and Brenda van Hunnik for hosting me in Zeist for two nights and also to Nitish for walking with me today, tomorrow I will be joined by my friend Peter Rietveld. 355 kilometres have been walked in 15 road days.

  
  





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