Saturday 27 April 2013
| Distance (km) | 14 kms | |||
| Distance (time) | 3.5 hrs | |||
| Hard / Soft surface | 60% / 40% | |||
| Landscape |
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| Weather |
 9° 6 Bft
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Of course this long weekend it's cold, especially at night. So walking early in the morning is not an attractive idea and fortunately not needed as the first stages are close to home. Hence we park the car around 11:00 at the railway station Maassluis West and we take the train to Hoek van Holland Haven. We adjust the shoes, stretch a bit and eat something before taking off. The weather is sunny but the northern wind is, let's say, chilly. At the railroad crossing we cannot afford to pass without taking a photo of the walking sign: only 2200 km to Nice. Should be doable, in 10-11 years.
We pass sports fields and walk around the north of Hoek van Holland through the Nieuwelandsepark before heading east. Apart from an abundance on free range dogs it's a rather quiet walk here. At the end of the park we have to turn right along the cycle path and left again over a very straight cycle path. We keep following this and decide it's high time for another bite, and have a look at the GPS as well. To our surprise we were supposed to walk a few 100 meters to the left passing the woods instead of the cycle path. We clearly missed a sign and that already within the first 10 kms. A good start for sure. We do some cross country to get back to the GR5 and continue through the woods until a visitors centre. It's pleasant walking here, but all good things come to an end. Leaving the woods we have to walk towards the Oranjekanaal: the beginning of a long straight section along a cycle path with green houses to the left, pasture to the right and a cold strong northern wind blowing in our left ears. Where the Pettendijk becomes the Oranjedijk there is some room to walk on the grass, which doesn't help against the wind but feels better for the feet. We have another break trying to get some shelter from the dike....without much luck. Passing the Oranjeplassen ponds (we agree that they don't look appealing for recreation) we arrive at the railroad again. The GR5 crosses here to follow the bank of the Nieuwe Waterweg. However, our car is parked on this side of the railroad and we're not sure whether we can cross the railroad again at the station were we're parked so we decided to just keep following the railroad until we're back at the car. |
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