Saturday March 14 2015 Leaving home. Vijlen – Sittard at least 40 km

Actually 36 km. according to the route planner, but taking into account a few times going wrong it adds up to 40km. And for the first time carrying my own luggage. Because I’ll be picked up tonight and will sleep at home, I left dear little Leon, my packhorse, home. Tomorrow I’ll be dropped off in Sittard and I’ll continue going North. According to the schedule.
Now back to this morning. The little bit that I walked through Mechelen, the village where I work, was fun again. I thought I met the real el Capone. A man, who’s wheelchair was completely filled up by his solid corpus, cigar in his mouth, beautiful hat, black blanket on his lap against the cold. We walked / drove a while together. All his life his great hobby had been drawing a carriage with his horses and dogs, but unfortunately it was over now. The camera did not work because of the cold, so I took a picture with my cell phone. Shame, such an impressive personality, handicapped now. I hope I can show a picture of him on the blog. Not much later I was overtaken by two Mechelen people whom I have been knowing for over 30 years and with whom I, medically, went through all kind of trouble. Gee, it’s great to be back home, home is where I wanna be, is a Beatles song of the 60′, 70’s. Well see, if you know where is your home and if you love it there, so you never want to live anywhere else, then Spain and France were beautiful, but like the clock knocks at home, it knocks nowhere else (Dutch saying). And then the necessary chats with dog owners. Beware sir, mrs., mine is in heat, I always warn, when Tosca runs free, asking Do you have a male or a bitch? Who should beware then? I warn however, so your dog does not keep following us. Cause my bitch Tosca is irresistable. In Stokhem along the river Geul the path was blocked by gates where a horse could not get through. A man passed by and we started talking . Oh, he says, you’re the man with a pony and dog etc. How do you know that? I asked him. My journey seems to have quite a bit of attention. I hope it also helps Mama Alice a little. Help the organization please, then at least I have the idea that my walking initiative also helps others.
And then, in Schin op Geul, two people on bicycles. Quelle beautée! This is worth a break. Where are you going? English, Deutsch? Japan (though they did not look Asian, but one may not discriminate. Think of our Dutch zwarte Piet/Black Peter!). She was a beautiful specimen of a guappa Espagnola and he a friendly Cuban. Possibly also handsome, but I happen to appreciate more the she’s. Where are you going? What do you do in the Nl? Neurobiology in Maastricht. Wow! I tried a few Spanish words. If I were not traveling, I would have invited them home. But if not traveling I wouldn’t have met them. This kind of little meetings inspire me.
In Oud Valkenburg I had a coffee in a bar, always two coffees at a time. Some chatting with the landlady about their dog, mine, whether she had anough clients etc.
And then, North of Aalbeek I came across Pieterpad, the longest and best known Dutch long distance trail. I followed it a few hundred meters and came upon a couple from Eindhoven. They made clear to me that I walked in the wrong direction. He had walked 30 kennedy marches (80 km.), I do not know how many Nijmegen 4- days walks etc. I figured quickly: my 3200 km. equals 40 kennedy marches, 16 Nijmegen Four Days marches. Still, not bad for an elderly youngster like I am, you know. those darn fences, an impossibility for Leon and then also for me. Beautiful villages: Terstraeten. She made two steps where I did one. She was small and sturdy for their height. I saw confirmed what I already thought, viz., That having a sportschoolbody says little about the function. For example consider Emiel Zatopec, Czech, who won in the 50s all long-distance numbers of the Olympic Games, with a pitiful running style. If you only want to. “You are your brain,” says Swaab. If you want to you can accomplish much. Someone who says “I cannot” often means to say I do not want to”” . O.K., accepted.
impossible for a horse History farms Terstraeten A brief chat with H in Mechelen V Li to Re: Netherlands, Basque Country, Cuba Aalbeek where I encounter Pieterpad and the couple from Eindhoven . < img src = " http://www.ponyanddogtrip.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/image2-300x225.jpg " alt = " Eindhoven long distance walkers " width = " 300 " height = " 225 " class = "size -medium wp -image- 4519 "/> Eindhoven long distance walkers
Just South of the beautiful hamlet Terstraeten with its half-timbered houses, the path was, at the most, 30 cm wide. That and gates at the beginning and end of the path made it impossible for a horse to get through. With a horse I would have had to walk back many km’s.
Late afternoon Sonja picked me up in Sittard.
Tonight, at home, again infrastructuring more than an hour on the laptop trying to find shelter for me and my horse. Tel. answers were: No wrong, no response, I must ask my husband tomorrow, etc. Now I’m through with it. I want to go on this trip and I want to go back to basics, but not sitting at my I pad the whole evening looking for shelters that are not available. Finito, basta, schluss, enough. I regret but also am relieved that I decided to leave horse Leon home. He stays here at home, until I agreed when he may return to the stables where I bought him. Horse Leon can participate in horseriding lessons until he’ll be sold sooner or later. After 3200 km I have enough experience how impossible it is to take a horse with you 25 km a day in Western Europe. Those who do want to do the same, I advice to take more time, or have a trailer, or be a lady, as in many more places ladies will be received with open arms. Not so Grandpa Harrie. Well, das war einmahl, but now finito. So Leon stays at home. Constance calls this “progressive understanding”.
Without horse I can knock on relatives’ and friends’ doors and I progress more, without having extra worries about a noble walking partner on four legs.
[Caption id = “attachment_100552” align = “align none” width = “300”] History farms Terstraeten A brief chat with van H. in Mechelen
From Li to Re: Netherlands, Basque Country, Cuba Aalbeek When I encounter Pieterpad and the couple from Eindhoven