Wadlopen

Wadlopen is the Dutch word for mudflat walking in the Wadden Sea, which is exactly what Todd and I were up to this past weekend.  We set off with our guides and a group of about 70 people at 5:30am on Saturday from a point on the northern coast of the Netherlands.  Here's a map of our route, approximately:

We walked from Holwerd to the island of Ameland.

Our journey began early because that is the point of the day when the tide is the lowest.  And although we did walk through a fair amount of water during our trek, about 6 hours later we would have been swimming that same route in 9 meter deep water.  Our total hike across the mudflats was about 11km, or 6.8 miles.  The hardest part of the trip was probably at the beginning where the mud was very soft and deep, which made it tough to pull your foot out and walk.  Then there were times during the walk that we were in water up to our waists, but that didn't last for too long at a time, so it was manageable.

Todd and I were joined on this adventure by 2 of his Dutch colleagues, Broos and Derrick.  Below are a few pics of us at the meeting point before heading out.  Check out how clean our shoes are.

Todd chose white shoes for a better before and after.

And then it was time to head out...

One of our guides.

I'll mention here that you'll probably notice that some of our photos are higher quality than others. Broos took the ones that look professional with his nice camera.  We took the ones that aren't as clear with our standard digital camera.

And here's the deluge of photos of our hike across the sea, with some narration in the captions.

Starting out.

Steady...

Were those shoes white?

Yummy.

Nice legs.

I actually wasn't as cold as I look.

Stopping for a snack.

Beautiful!

And then the water started to rise...

Deeper....

Another one of our guides.

Todd's doing a stellar job keeping his backpack dry.

Hoist.

 I found it quite unexpected that we could see the island so easily for our entire walk, at times it felt like it was so close, and then we'd just keep on walking.  But we did eventually make it to the other side in about 3 and a half hours.  

And the necessary after shot of our shoes back on dry land.

Our destination, Ameland, was quite beautiful and it was very satisfying to look out from the "mountain" on the island and see where we came from.

We did it!

There are also dunes on the island that really reminded me of Michigan.

Am I at the Holland (Michigan) State Park?

We hiked from the south side of the island to the north, where we rinsed off in the North Sea and then hopped on a wagon.  This wagon then brought us closer to one of the island villages.

But our walking was not yet over, because we still had to go another 4km to get from our side of the island and across to where the ferry would leave going back to the mainland.  During our walk, we of course stopped for lunch and enjoyed the little village of Nes.

This horse made a sudden moment and scared the crap out of me. As you can tell by my face.

The village of Nes was adorable, with lots of cute, old buildings.

And some that were a bit newer.

Our first experience wadlopen was amazing.  It was challenging and beautiful and dirty and something you just don't get to do every day.  My legs and feet are still sore today, which are nice reminders of our trip.  Thanks for going along with us Broos and Derrick!