Weekend Adventures

Monday was a national holiday so we decided to utilise the three free days and go outdoors. On Saturday, we went to BBQ with friends in the National Park Veluwezoom. The weather was great and we loaded the convertible with the tent and sleeping bags – and of course the running gear. Also, we added one new item: our new inflatable kayak Sevylor Adventure. Yes, my dear readers, there is a new sport discipline that we are adding to our scope (and a new huge bag with gear that has to be squeezed in the garage):

But first things first. The Veluwezoom is a beautiful piece of nature in the heart of The Netherlands. It pretty much kills the Dutch stigma of a flat country with no trees. The 5000 hectars of this old national park are (slightly) hilly and woody and the nature looks pretty untouched here… which we went to check on Sunday morning during our (semi)trail. Yes, that is the first adventure I want to mention today: running on unpaved roads as I haven’t done much of it yet.

After the Saturday BBQ and a night in this tent

I promised V not to wake her up too early and if I did, and if she decided to run with me, we would do just a short run. Well, plans are there to be altered. What you see below is what Dutch call a ‘mushroom’.

It is the official Dutch tourist bond marking point that hikers and bikers use all over the country. I used it as well during our run (V mostly on the paved biking path and me next to her in the sand where horses would run) but somehow (and please don’t mention the female disability to read a map) the trail got longer and longer. To cut a long story short, we ended up with 12 km of hungry and thirsty running in the forest. Any better idea of how to start a perfect day?

Back in the camping, after the coffee and a proper breakfast we slowly packed our gear and started looking for suitable waters (= very quiet safe areas) to test the kayak. We found a small paradise here (Wijk bij Duurstede):

All afternoon we were playing with the boat and enjoying it to bits and so we decided to go to look for some more adventurous waters on Monday again. And that is exactly what we did. After my morning run we packed the boat again and 12 km from our house (!) we found this:

Deeply touched by the forest trail experience a day ago, we were clever enough to bring food and drink with us this time so we could enjoy the proper kayak picnic. So here I sit, with my shoulders and legs burnt by the long weekend sun, trying to force myself to unpack, shower, turn on the washing machine… but as so many times, sitting down with the glass of wine is the one activity that will win the fight tonight.

How was your weekend?