Robin

I will be posting on this blog on a less regular basis for a while, there are just too much other things that grab my attention. Hope to see you soon :)

Near Borger

This narrow road is a service road and goes parallel to route N374 that you see on the right. At this point we are just leaving the village of Borger. The service road is meant for cyclists, slow traffic, and by the people who live in the houses there on the left.

Mammoth

Can you discover a mammoth in this wire netting? It is located along the 'Mammoth Path'; in an area where long ago in history mammoths lived, and from which bones were found several years ago.
A sign next to it explained that the construction was placed here recently ('here' is near the village of Borger), with the intention to let plants grow along the wire to give it a more solid look. So we will definitely make another photo some time later this year!

This morning

We had a little bit of snow this morning.

Left or right

A sign in the 'Land van Bartje' holiday park. I thought it was very sweet :)

Exloo storm forest

A small part of the Exloo forest -known as section 165 or 'the storm forest'- has been left untouched for the past 45 years. When after a devastating storm in November 1972 literally all trees were down, the rest of the forest was cleared out and new trees were planted.

This plot was left to recover by itself, without the help of humans. Something we don't see often here in the Netherlands! Over the years many trees have been covered with bright green moss. A wonderful part of our hike.

New Year's hike

We joined the annual 'New Year's Hike' from the village of Exloo today. With +1°C we enjoyed the organised route of 15 km. There was a short break for coffee/tea at the Exloo ice rink, which was all prepared for freezing weather but so far no ice yet.

This small building is the skating club canteen. It was crowded inside with hikers so we had our coffee outside before continuing the route.

Tulips

It's January and that means tulips are for sale again. I brought these pink ones home yesterday.

Sun and shadow

I'm not sure if this piece of land in the Westerwolde region is overflowed or if there is (some) water here all year. By the look of the vegetation it might be a wet spot. Anyway there was a thin layer of ice at the front that wasn't reached by the sun.

N976

This is road N976 leading away from Jipsinghuizen. Our hike followed the bicycle path for a while.

The Hell of Jipsinghuizen

Less than a century ago -in 1924- the province of Groningen started an unemployment relief programme to provide jobs for the many people who needed work in those days. It wasn't on a voluntary basis though; in and around a hamlet called Jipsinghuizen men were forced to dig the barren land, and for very little money. The conditions were so bad and dramatic that it became known as 'the hell of Jipsinghuizen'.

This sculpture, also called 'The Hell of Jipsinghuizen', stands across the former tram station where the workers arrived. It expresses the desperation of the past and the hope for a new tomorrow. It was made by Dutch sculptor Eddy Roos (1949).

Walk or swim?

Believe it or not but the water on the right was the path we were supposed to follow! Due to all the rain of the past weeks the stream on the left overflowed. This was just outside the village of Sellingen.

I'm linking to All Seasons.

Ruiten Aa

It seems a long time ago since we had a sunny day like today -never mind the cold eastern wind ;)
So, we put on our hiking boots and went for a hike in the rural Westerwolde region. The road we are on here is the Zevenmeersveenweg, and the stream we are crossing is called Ruiten Aa.

Veenkerk #2

I showed you the Veenkerk yesterday and told you a little about it's history, let's have a closer look at this tiny Peat Church today. Stepping inside brings you in a narrow hall, and then..

..a very basic church room with 6 chairs on each side facing the altar. We visited the church on Dec 26, hence the Christmas tree.

Veenkerk #1

The Veenkerk ("Peat Church") in the village of Barger-Compascuum was a small Roman Catholic church. It was built in 1874 in the raised bogs ('hoogveen' in Dutch) in this area, to serve those who lived and worked here to cultivate this area. Around the 1920s the church was in a bad state, and at at same time had become too small for the growing number of churchgoers -so it was decided to build a new and bigger church. The photo shows a replica of the original Veenkerk, which can be found at the Veenpark open-air museum now.

On the bridge

Crossing the IJssel river on the 'stadsbrug' (city bridge) on foot from the centre of Kampen to the train station on the other side.

Arches

Arches above an alley in the historic centre of Kampen.

Bakery

This beautiful building in Art Nouveau style is a bakery and confectioner's shop in Kampen.

And this is the view around the corner.

Happy New Year!