Hiking in Schoorl aan Zee
On an amazingly unseasonably warm fall day, we drove to Schoorl aan Zee to enjoy the extended summer and hike in the dunes of the Dutch coast. I have written this post so that I could share another side of Holland with my friends because there is more to enjoy than just the "famous Amsterdam" : a picturesque landscape with undisturbed wooded areas within a traquil setting. 
While we were driving along the panoramic countryside, surrounded by farms with frolicking horses and ponies, we could not resist to pull over to admire them up close.
It was a matter of seconds before their curiosity brought them to the edge of the fence to greet us with playful interest. We stroked them and took plenty of photos before we parted ways.
Before we started off on our journey through the the dunes, in the direction of the sea (or so we thought), we always start off at one of the village cafes for a refreshing smoothie and a toetje (that is Dutch for a dessert, such as an apple pie or pudding). The start of our hike always begins at the bottom of this massive dune, disguised as a harmless hill of sand :)
Once we reach the top we used the time to catch our breath and look behind us - there is that cafe I told ya about in the quaint village of Schoorl. 
At the top of the hill are sandy walking trails basking in the shadow of soaring trees. 
After an hour and a half of hiking and taking photos of the scenic views, we stopped at the top of the hill for our scrumptious private picnic (of Mediterranean tapas, fresh OJ & a bottle of our favourite Italian Rose wine), along with EVERY ant within a 5 metre radius! 
We continued along the trail for another 30 minutes till we came across the bicycle trail that leads to the sea. This particular beach is only accessible via this bicycle path (or of course, by walking along from the neighbouring beaches since the entire western coastline is one extensive beach). Above is the beach in the far ... FAR distance, making it painfully clear that we were NOT going to reach our planned destination :( 
Further along the bicycle path, we discovered a charming cafe, located at precisely the mid-point between Schoorl and the beach, where we stopped for an ice cream. (FYI for those non-Dutch readers: strand = beach). Due to my sore feet, we reluctantly decided to head back to Schoorl.
At the end of the bicycle path, we were eventually reunited with our car."LIFE LESSON FOR THE DAY": instead of getting lost in the woods for HALF A DAY, we would have a better chance of actually reaching the beach, IF WE FOLLOWED THE SIGNS where the bicycle path begins instead of climbing up the giant hill of sand!
While we were driving along the panoramic countryside, surrounded by farms with frolicking horses and ponies, we could not resist to pull over to admire them up close.It was a matter of seconds before their curiosity brought them to the edge of the fence to greet us with playful interest. We stroked them and took plenty of photos before we parted ways.Before we started off on our journey through the the dunes, in the direction of the sea (or so we thought), we always start off at one of the village cafes for a refreshing smoothie and a toetje (that is Dutch for a dessert, such as an apple pie or pudding). The start of our hike always begins at the bottom of this massive dune, disguised as a harmless hill of sand :)
Once we reach the top we used the time to catch our breath and look behind us - there is that cafe I told ya about in the quaint village of Schoorl. At the top of the hill are sandy walking trails basking in the shadow of soaring trees. After an hour and a half of hiking and taking photos of the scenic views, we stopped at the top of the hill for our scrumptious private picnic (of Mediterranean tapas, fresh OJ & a bottle of our favourite Italian Rose wine), along with EVERY ant within a 5 metre radius! We continued along the trail for another 30 minutes till we came across the bicycle trail that leads to the sea. This particular beach is only accessible via this bicycle path (or of course, by walking along from the neighbouring beaches since the entire western coastline is one extensive beach). Above is the beach in the far ... FAR distance, making it painfully clear that we were NOT going to reach our planned destination :( Further along the bicycle path, we discovered a charming cafe, located at precisely the mid-point between Schoorl and the beach, where we stopped for an ice cream. (FYI for those non-Dutch readers: strand = beach). Due to my sore feet, we reluctantly decided to head back to Schoorl.
At the end of the bicycle path, we were eventually reunited with our car."LIFE LESSON FOR THE DAY": instead of getting lost in the woods for HALF A DAY, we would have a better chance of actually reaching the beach, IF WE FOLLOWED THE SIGNS where the bicycle path begins instead of climbing up the giant hill of sand!:-) :-) :-)
posted by Bubbles @ 21:15
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