Track 1: Pieterburen - Winsum

17-Jun-24 - 12.5 km

To get to the starting point of the trail in Pieterburen I traveled by train to Groningen where I stored a small suitcase in a locker at the train station and continued by train to Winsum from where I took a bus to Pieterburen. Total travel time 3 hrs and 30 mins.  Before going on the trail I visited the Seals Center, a hospital and knowledge center for seals in NW Europe. Founded in 1971 the center takes care of orphan and sick seals found in the Waddenzee between the north coast of the Netherlands and the

islands. At the time I was there, 5 orphan seals were being taking care of until they were strong enough to be released in the Waddenzee.

The northern part of the province of Groningen that I walk through is a wide landscape with vast fields and here and there a farm. It was created by silted up sea clay in the time that the sea level was higher and has been reclaimed bit by bit in the last 1000 years. The first inhabitants built their houses, churches and villages on ‘Wierden’; hills that were up to 5 meters high. There are also many tidal channels that provided open connections to the sea until 1876, when the sea dikes were finished.

The first track of the trail ends in Winsum where I enjoy a nice dinner on a terrace before walking to the train station from where I take the train to the city of Groningen. There I collected my suitcase from the locker and walked less than 1 kilometer to the hostel at the border of the city center where I booked a room for the coming 4 nights. After a shower it did not take long before I fall asleep reading a book.

Track 2: Winsum - Groningen

18-Jun-24 - 21 km

After a simple breakfast of coffee and croissant on my way to the train station I take a train to Winsum again and pick up the trail at the restaurant where I had dinner last night.

Today's trail takes me along many tidal channels such as the Hunze, which formed an open connection to the sea from the city of Groningen but were replaced in the 17th century by the Rietdiep canal to guarantee passage from the city to the sea and back independent of the tide. Hence the various locks that I pass.

Because a pedestrian and cycle bridge over the Van Starkenborg canal is no longer in use due to a collision with a ship, the trail makes a westerly detour from Wierum following the Rietdiep to the modern hydraulic lifting bridge Dockwork over the Van Starkenborg canal and a bit of a boring track along the canal going southeast to the former fortified city of Groningen.

When the fortress was abolished by law in 1874, the ramparts were demolished. A park was built on part of the northwestern ramparts between 1880 and 1920, through which the Pieterpad trail now runs. I enjoy a lovely sunny afternoon on the terrace in the park with a glass of wine and a sandwich. Then the route continues through the old city centre to the square opposite the central station. As I pass close to my hostel I will stop at the muted ‘Zuiderdiep’ from where I will continue track 3 of the trail tomorrow.

Track 3: Groningen - Zuidlaren

19-Jun-24 - 22.6 km

Today I leave the city and province of Groningen from the central station along the Noord Willemskanaal. After that, the Pieterpad trail continues over the Hondsrug, a ridge formed in the penultimate ice age that runs from Groningen to Emmen. Many boulders have been left behind on this ridge that were used by the first inhabitants of the area to build dolmens, their burial chambers.

Furthermore, a large part of the trail mainly runs along the Drentse Aa, one of the few streams in the Netherlands that has retained its natural and meandering shape. The ‘Es-dorpen’ in this area consist of a number of farms and outbuildings that were built around an open space that was usually planted with oaks and served as a gathering place for cattle and had a drinking place. Such an open space, the ‘Brink’, was also used for meetings, markets and parties.

In some parts of the area, peat was also dug up that was used as fuel and often transported by boat to the urban areas. Hence the many dug lakes where that peat was extracted. There are also many marshy areas and the ground and paths show that the weather has been very wet so far this year.

A large part of the trail also runs along the former trade route from Groningen to Coevorden and Munster in Germany.

From Zuidlaren I take a bus to the Groningen train station to walk back to my hostel for the night.

Track 4: Zuidlaren - Rolde

20-Jun-24 - 17.4 km

Today I take the bus from Groningen to Zuidlaren to start track 3 of the trail from Zuidlaren. It is beautiful summer weather and I first enjoy a coffee and cake on a terrace near the Brink to celebrate my 70th birthday today.

For over 800 years Zuidlaren has been known for its Horse Market that is held on the Brink on the third Tuesday in October. After coffee I walk over the Brink and along the Dobbe (watering place) for the cattle that has been preserved in the direction of Schipborg from where the path follows the Drentsche Aa, which is called Schipborger Diep here. This is the national landscape park the Drentse Aa with alternating marsh, agricultural forest and heathlands. Here I also come across the first boardwalks to protect Nature and to keep the feet of walkers like me dry.

In the Gasterse dunes I also come across the first Hunebed (Dolmen).

A dolmen or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". It was built between 3400 and 3100 BC by people of the Funnel Baker Culture, an early farming culture that extended across the northeastern part of the Netherlands, the north of Germany and Denmark, the south of Sweden and large parts of Poland.

In the village of Gasteren it is time for my birthday lunch.

After lunch the trail takes me over boardwalks through other marshlands and then over the Balloërveld. This area of sand dunes and headlands used to be military training ground that has been returned to nature and is still a place for archaeological research with, among other things, burial mounds. The path follows the aforementioned trade route from Groningen via Coevorden to Munster.

In the field I meet a local resident of Rolde who is on her afternoon walk and while talking about the difference between life in the big city (The Hague) and in the Drentsche countryside we walk past the Pieterpad monument into the village of Rolde where our paths part because she goes to do her daily shopping and I enjoy a beer on a terrace before my bus arrives that takes me to Assen and from where I take a train to Groningen for a last night in the hostel.

After a shower and a shave in the hostel I walk to the Grote Markt square in the city center to enjoy and glass of wine on a terrace and after that have a great Thai (birthday) dinner nearby.

Track 5: Rolde - Schoonloo

21-Jun-24 - 19.1 km

This morning I packed my little suitcase and checked out of the hostel to leave the case in a locker at Groningen train station. My plan was to take it with me to Assen train station but as there are no lockers in the station I have to come back to Groningen at the end of the day to collect it. Making my travel back home almost an hour longer.

From the busstop at the Kerkbrink in Rolde I picked up the trail near the church. The trail is on the former railway track Assen - Stadskanaal which can be seen as it crosses a road that still has the railway tracks in the tarmac. Just outside Rolde I pass one of the 2 hunebedden die in het dorp gevonden worden.

A little later the route follows the Andersche Diep, an unspoilt meandering stream with flowery rough grasslands. The path crosses the stream at an ancient ford. When I walk through the Gieten forestry I get the first raindrops of these 5 days of walking and it rains just as much.

When passing the beautiful nature reserve Meindertsveen with quiet fens and heathland it has turned into drizzle. The remaining part of the route is mainly agricultural land with here and there small bus stops such as just before Schoonloo where I find the bus stop for the return trip to Assen station and then from there via Groningen to home in The Hague.

The first five days of the Pieterpad were beautiful, not least because I covered the 90 km without any problems.

Track 6: Schoonloo - Sleen

8-Jul-24 - 24.4 km

Due to a busy schedule I was unable to plan 5 days and have scheduled stage 6 for today with an overnight stay in a caravan in the stage town of Sleen and then stage 7 tomorrow.

I have a 30 liter daypack with a change of clothes for one day, my 13 inch MacBook, the Pieterpad guide and phone + battery for photos and the electronic route. Shortly after nine o'clock I take the train from The Hague to Assen to take the bus to Schoonloo from there where it is already one o'clock when I start walking.

The first part of the walk goes through the Schoonloo forest. Drenthe mainly consisted of a layer of boulder clay with mud and stones on top of it brought in the ice ages on which swamps and heathlands have formed. There are also peat areas that have been dug up since the 17th century. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the peat from these peat areas was the most important fuel. Heathlands and sand drifts were converted into production forests and agricultural lands from the end of the 19th century.

By the time I leave the Schoonloo forestry, I notice that my right ankle is starting to hurt. Is that because of walking on the grass paths and paths with (erratic) boulders? I take an extra long lunch break while enjoying the nature and tranquility of De Kijl. Although the route today largely runs through forests, there is a lot of variety through heathlands, fens and sights as can be seen from the photos of the day.

After passing the Emmen - Drachten road, I walk the last 4 kilometers through the fields to the end point in Sleen mainly on character with pain in my right ankle. I can hardly roll my right foot normally. I talk to a farmer who addresses me from the field, about the wet ground due to the heavy rain this year. He says that colleagues in other parts of the country suffer more from it than he does. It feels good sitting quietly in front of the caravan to write this report, sort the photos and enjoy a beautiful evening. After a hot shower I sleep well fortunately but the next morning I decide to go home by bus and train via Emmen and Zwolle because normal walking is not really possible and the foot needs more rest and recovery time.

Track 7: Sleen - Coevorden

3-Sep-24 - 22 km

Three and a half weeks after a laparoscopic operation in my left lung I decide to see how far I can get with walking this 7th stage of the Pieterpad. I have recovered well from the operation and last week I heard from the lung specialist that I should just start doing what I like and can do. A first test case!

After three hours and fifteen minutes of travelling with 2 trains and a local bus I arrive at 12:15 at the bus stop just outside Sleen where I ended the last time. The walk starts with a quiet part through the village of Sleen to the south. Most roads today appear to be mostly quiet. Just outside the village the path bends and runs along a forest edge and field and further along a drainage canal the Zwallings that ends in the Jongbloedvaart and then in the Verlengde Hoogeveense vaart. After 6 km that is a good point with a bench for a moment of rest plus some food and drink that I have with me. I come to the conclusion that I feel fine. After about 20 minutes I continue, also because I see a number of pleasure boats in the Hogeveense canal for which the swing bridge that I have to cross will open.

The Pieterpad runs for more than 2 kilometers alternately along both sides of the canal and then turns off towards the village of Den Hool where I enjoy a delicious cup of tea and a bottle of water in the garden under a very old chestnut tree next to a B&B that is located in an old Saxon farm. When I leave there again I see dark rain clouds around me and it is clear that I will not stay dry. I pack what should not get wet in my backpack, pull the rain cover over it and continue my journey with the umbrella in my hand that I ultimately only need twice without getting too wet.

More than halfway through the 21 kilometers to be covered I pass through Den Haar where, according to Google, I could possibly take a bus that will take me to Daelen station for the return journey. But I still feel fine, not overtired and no problems with the arthritis in my ankles and I decide to continue the remaining 8 kilometers to Coevorden. Not long after that I pass a Jewish cemetery that dates from the 18th century. Then follows another beautiful stretch with paths along the Drosterdiep that eventually ends just in the Stieltjeskanaal just outside Coevorden.

Coevorden is an old fortified town that was completely rebuilt after the conquest from the Spanish Army in 1592 into a modern star-shaped fortified town. Due to changed war techniques, Coevorden lost its fortress status from 1854 onwards and the released fortifications and ramparts were used for industry and a villa park. The part of the ramparts around the water tower is now a city park through which the Pieterpad runs. The path continues into town past some old buildings to the modern station from where I return home after walking 22 kilometers.

Track 8: Coevorden - Ane

18-Sep-24 - 12.9 km

Today I want to walk stage 8, 19 km. I have a few busy weeks behind me and I hope I can finish it on this day that promises to be sunny in the afternoon with a temperature of around 23 C.

I start around half past eleven from the station in Coevorden and it soon becomes clear that the largest part of the walk will go along shipping and drainage canals. Furthermore, the slightly undulating landscape quickly reminds me of my favourite Achterhoek with its varied agriculture, cattle breeding and small forests or groves. Just outside Coevorden I walk along the edge of a marsh area along the statue of the Drentse Poort made in 2005 from boulders and which is part of a sculpture route of which I have also encountered one on the way from Schoonloo to Sleen.

When I approach Gramsbergen after about 8 km I start to have more and more trouble with my right ankle; the osteoarthritis is starting to play up. Before Gramsbergen I pass a junction with a spaghetti of waters: here the Vecht, the Almelo - Haandrik canal and the Coevorden - Vecht canal cross each other. The railway line also runs along the Almelo - de Haandrik canal here and there are various locks and weirs to properly control the different water levels. An impressive junction that dates back to the middle of the 19th century.

When I cross the Almelo - De Haandrik canal in Gramsbergen, there is a restaurant with a terrace along the canal on the other side where I enjoy a good but simple bread lunch.

After sitting quietly for an hour, the first steps seem to be okay, but before I leave the town with a nice authentic center, the pain gets worse and it is certain that I will not be able to walk the remaining 8 km. I continue to the ‘Monument Battle of Ane’ which commemorates the victory in 1227 of the Drenthe landdrost Rudolf van Coevorden and farmers over the army of the Bishop of Utrecht. A year later they were defeated and Drenthe was subjected to the Bishopric.

After walking 13 kilometers, the bus stop at the monument is my end point for the day and I take the bus to Hardenberg, then the train to Zwolle and from there the train to The Hague.

Track 8-9: Ane - Rheeze

2-Oct-24 - 12.2 km

Today is a test to see how much I can walk since my ankles indicated that they could not go any further after 10 kilometers three weeks ago. I take the train from The Hague to Zwolle to take the train to Gramsbergen followed by a bus that takes me to Ane where I stopped 3 weeks ago.

The journey goes smoothly and just before 2 o'clock in the afternoon I start the walk. From Ane the route goes through a varied landscape of mainly agricultural lands interspersed with smaller forests to Hardenberg. I arrive there after about 6 kilometers and enjoy a cup of coffee with apple pie in a restaurant along the Vecht.

From the center of Hardenberg I walk on stage 9 and because everything is going well with my ankles I decide to walk on to Rheeze, 6 kilometers further.

From Hardenberg you can see that the Vecht used to be a small but wild river with a wide catchment area that is now controlled by various weirs. The route goes over quiet paths and roads along dammed arms of the river with varied nature and views over the river valley.

Rheeze is a beautiful village with large farms around the village. I find a bench near the bus stop where I have to wait about 45 minutes for the next and last bus that takes me to Mariënberg from where I start the train journey home.

Track 9: Rheeze - Ommen

5-Oct-24 - 16.1 km

After the successful walk last Wednesday, I want to walk the remainder of stage 9 from Rheeze to Ommen today. It promises to be a beautiful, quiet autumn day with lots of sun and little wind. At 07:33 I take the train from The Hague to Leeuwarden to change in Zwolle to the train to Marienberg where I take the bus to Rheeze.

The journey goes smoothly and at 10:25 I start the walk from the Ringweg bus stop in Rheeze where I finished last Wednesday. I quickly take off my fleece and walk around enjoying the varied Overijssel landscape in a polo and sweater. I have said it before, but the variety of farmlands and forests makes the landscape attractive, slightly less undulating than my beloved Achterhoek.

In the Hardenberg forest, I exchange the sandy path for the adjacent concrete cycle path because the sandy path consists only of wet cart tracks due to the logging and the transport with heavy vehicles.

At Junne I cross the Vecht which is an interesting passage over 4 different 'streams' of the river. First a bridge over the free circulation of fast flowing water, then the bridge over the weir followed by the Fish-traps through which fish can swim upstream around the weir and finally the lock through which (pleasure) boats can sail.

After about 10 kilometers of walking the route goes over the Junne estate, a varied route through forests, along marshes and over sand drifts. Actually I am ready for a break with something to eat and drink but it seems that I will only find a restaurant or something like that in the last kilometer so I decide to walk on to the end point at Ommen station where there is at least a station restaurant where I can eat and drink something before starting the return journey home.

I enjoyed a nice walk and am very happy that my body (mainly ankles) was able to walk 16.1 kilometers in 3 hours and 25 minutes, which is a speed of 4.7 kilopeters per hour.

Track 10: Ommen - Hellendoorn

8-Oct-24 - 20.4 km

Half an hour later than planned because I miss my train connection in Zwolle due to a delay between The Hague and Zwolle, I arrive in Ommen. No problem because I have a beautiful afternoon and walk ahead of me.

Today I start on the part of the Pieterpad that crosses the Sallandse Heuvelrug. A moraine that was left behind after the ice withdrew from this area at the end of the penultimate Ice Age. Because the station in Ommen is already outside the centre of the village, I immediately walk along beautiful country roads. These quickly go up through forests and over heathlands to the first peak of today, the 33-metre-high Besthmernerberg. A little further on I walk at the top of the undercutting of the moraine through a dammed bend in the river Regge and I see the water below me through the trees and bushes.

After I have passed the canalised part of the river Regge, the road slowly but surely begins to climb to the 75-metre-high Archemerberg. It is a somewhat deserted path across heathlands and a steeply rising section between some pines. Once at the top, it is clear to see that the Sallandse Heuvelrug is relatively narrow and with lowlands around it where Zwolle can be seen to the west and Almelo to the southeast.

On the way down I pass a partially excavated stone that used to serve as a boundary stone between neighborhoods and after a short distance over the Lemelerberg I arrive in the village of Lemele. The second half of today's route is over flatter terrain and I pass the Overijssels canal from Deventer/Zwolle to Twente that was opened in 1855 but became less important for shipping due to the opening of the Twente canal in 1938 and was eventually closed to shipping in 1964.

Before I reach Hellendoorn, the path continues for a while over the wooded Eelerberg and I deviate from the path for the last kilometer to arrive at the bus stop in Hellendoorn for my return trip to The Hague..

Track 11: Hellendoorn - Holten

12-Oct-24 - 15.8 km

Because the local bus was full upon arrival in Nijverdal, I had to wait with 3 other passengers for an extra bus that had been called by the driver. This arrived more than half an hour later and by then the other passengers had already left, walking or picked up by others. I was taken straight to the centre of Hellendoorn where I had planned to get off.

After buying some fresh rolls at Albert Heijn, I was still on my way at half past eleven and walked out of the village quite quickly and up forest paths towards the Noetselerberg. It was chilly but after about three kilometres I took off my coat, I still had 3 layers underneath!

At the top of the Noetselerberg is a beautiful viewpoint with an information table from where you can see the Haarlerberg on the other side over the heath valley. The path descends from there over the noetserler (heath) field further towards Holten. Beautiful varied landscape with heath, pines, deciduous trees and shrubs through which the path winds. At the end of the Noetselenberg estate you climb the Holterberg with a beautiful viewpoint in a westerly direction where I enjoy it for a while on a bench.

From there the path runs along the north and east side of the highest point of the Holterberg to the south to end up at the Holten station which is the end point of this stage and from where I start the long journey home via Wierden and Zwolle..

Track 12: Holten - Laren

12-Oct-24 - 15.3 km

Today I am walking the 12th stage together with my sister and as usual when we walk together for a day we will make it a culinary walking day again. I take the train from The Hague to Arnhem which also stops in Ede-Wageningen where she gets on. Via Zutphen and Deventer we travel to Holten where the station is also the stage location where stage 11 turns into stage 12.

Because it is already 12 o'clock when we arrive in Holten we start with a lunch opposite the old church in the centre of Holten and around one o'clock we really set off for the 15.3 kilometres that we have to cover today. We are soon outside Holten and in a varied landscape of agricultural lands and small forests we walk up the Beuseberg (33m high), one of the last extensions of the Overijssel moraines.

Later we walk over a beautiful dike with large beech trees along the Schipbeek, which until well into the 19th century was the connection between Zutphen and Deventer and the Achterhoek and Overijssel. At the beginning of the 20th century, the stream was canalized and various weirs were built to prevent flooding. At some distance we see the Markelo transmission tower from 1958, which is becoming less and less necessary due to modern communication techniques.

The last part of the route goes over the Verwolde estate, which was already mentioned in 1346. The current villa, well hidden behind the moat and gardens around it, was built after a fire in 1776. Overijssel and the Graafschap (Achterhoek in common parlance) have many of these types of estates with villas and castles.

Once we arrive in Laren, we quickly find restaurant Witkamp with a nice terrace where we first enjoy an aperitif and a snack in the sun before we go inside for a delicious and well-deserved meal.

The advantage of this restaurant is also that the bus stop for the bus to Deventer is right outside! From Deventer we go back home in the reverse order as we came.

Track 13: Laren - Vorden

22-Oct-24 - 13 km

Today the trip from The Hague to Laren took me 2 hrs and 20 min by 2 trains and a bus. It is beautiful sunny weather with a bit of a fresh wind.

As Laren is only a mall village I am soon out in the countryside for farm fields and little forests. The trees and bushes already in nice autumn colours but the soil still wet from the wet year we have had so far. Sometimes whole areas of farmlands are still flooded with all the negative effect on mainly corn and potatoes.

The narrow path next to a drainage canal is also wet and muddy and I have to be careful not to slip. When I have crossed the Zutphen - Hengelo railway line I see on the other side the first of the many country houses in this region.

Then I cross the Twente Canal and the Berkel in succession. The Twente Canal was dug as a work creation project and has been the most important waterway between Zutphen and Enschede since 1936. Originally mainly for the transport of coal to the Twente textile industry. The Berkel was once the most important shipping route from Zutphen to the Achterhoek but was tempered in the previous century by canalization and weirs to prevent further flooding in the area.

The last kilometers of the route today go over sandy paths through the nature reserves of Veldhorst and Grote Veld with a beautiful renovated path towards the country house Het Enzerinck and then along Kasteel Den Bramel just before the border of the village of Vorden is reached. In Vorden the path soon runs past the train station on the Zutphen - Winterswijk line where the train just arrives at the moment that I end this beautiful walk there.

Due to problems on the track, fewer trains run between Utrecht and Gouda and I decide to travel via Deventer-Amersfoort-Utrecht because that train has not been canceled and in the end it does not make much difference in travel time for me.

Track 14: Vorden - Zelhem

26-Oct-24 - 19.2 km

Last Sunday I organised a walk through Scheveningen with a group of expats from InterNations. During that 10km walk I was already asked if I could organise a longer walk through nature. In the discussion that followed later I said: ‘You can always walk with me on the Pieterpad’ and today afriend joined me and together we walked stage 14.

After the train journey The Hague - Utrecht - Apeldoorn - Vorden we get off the train in Vorden at a quarter to eleven to pick up the route where I ended last Tuesday. We start by taking a photo of each of us at a memory of the Pieterpad. Then, as we leave Vorden, I do my best to point out to her the various red above white stickers and arrows on lampposts and wooden posts that indicate the route.

Just outside Vorden we arrive at Vorden castle and walk along the north and west side around the castle and then through the surrounding forests to the south and cross the peat ditch. We then walk through a varied landscape to Linde where the mill is turning in the sun! Time for a nice picture. Like many mills in the country, this one is also open on Saturdays thanks to volunteer millers and can be visited.

We deviate from the route at Huize Zelle to see if we can walk over the estate for a better view of the country house, but that is not possible and we have to go back. When we walk through Varssel after about nine kilometers, we agree that it is time for a picnic spot to enjoy our packed lunch. But as is often the case in such situations, partly due to a detour because of a motocross, we only find a suitable spot after about 11 km.

Also on the last part to Zelhem we see many beautiful autumn colours in nature and we are both satisfied when we reach the market in Zelhem without any problems after walking 19.2 km where we can almost immediately get on the bus to Ruurlo from where we start the train journey home via Zutphen - Arnhem - Utrecht.