{"id":104861,"date":"2015-04-01T21:19:34","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T20:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ponyanddogtrip.com\/?p=104861"},"modified":"2021-12-01T12:43:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T11:43:09","slug":"104861","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ponyanddogtrip.nl\/en\/104861\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday April 1st 2015. Hassbergen 30 km."},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone complains about the weather. Are you sure you don ‘t take a day off with this storm? Trees uprooted, tiles from the\u00a0rooftops, everywhere branches on the road.\u00a0 The wind pushes me ahead and Tosca acts\u00a0like a draft dog. Runs pretty good. After 3.5h.\u00a0 of walking I finally found a little restaurant along the road, that was open. After passing all kinds of placards and signs to romantic “homebars” and after having followed in vain into directions to official imbissen (little restaurant, see some examples in pictures), I don’t want to be cheated any more and I just walk on, ignoring all the restaurant signs. Now I’m behind a good, large cup of coffee. Time to answer the nice, enouraging text message from F and M in Mechelen, time to send some SMS messages \u00a0to loved ones, before they have forgotten me, making a few notes for my blog, \u00a0giving Tosca some rest and taking much time, in order\u00a0not to\u00a0arrive too early. If my\u00a0walking shape with backpack\u00a0stays the way it is,\u00a0I can walk more,\u00a0and also can afford longer breaks. So\u00a0take it easy\u00a0Haike (little Harry). Though\u00a0the problem of finding shelter for the next day remains of course. Often,\u00a0when passing\u00a0a settlement, I see “Zimmer frei”. But those places\u00a0usually are not on the Internet, so often I book\u00a0something more expensive ahead with the help of my i-pad, that could have been cheaper.\u00a0But I want to book on beforehand, don’t want to loose time looking for a place to sleep. If I were much younger, and preferably of the opposite sex,\u00a0it probably would be much easier to find something.\u00a0When I book something, I\u00a0 sometimes explain\u00a0on the phone that I’m not a tramp. Holy, holy!
\nYears ago a vagabond\u00a0 slept in winter behind the front\u00a0door of my office. The door to the front hall was always open, so in case of emergency\u00a0patients could call me with\u00a0the wall phone in the front\u00a0hall of my office. Cell phones didn’t exist yet. Everty morning the man was awakened by my former assistant with coffee.\u00a0I wouldn’t mind that either! But when the guy\u00a0also began to use the portal as toilet, my patience ran out. But he refused to leave. Every morning he was there again. Vigilantism should not exist in the Nl., but is the only\u00a0thing that works. The police did not want to interfere either. I thought of unwanted cats and threw a couple of times\u00a0 a bucket of cold water on him in the winter mornings. With much cursing and growling he eventually stopped coming. Well, whoever\u00a0does not hear must feel. In today’s education, this principle no longer is accepted, but I do not completely agree with that soft modern approach.<\/p>\n

Here, the radio is blaring carnival music, reminds me\u00a0of the apr\u00e8s ski, with “Joanna, geboren um Liebe zu geben”. <\/span>My skigroup\u00a0that winter, a few years ago, got slightly tipsy\u00a0of the beers. <\/span>I did not\u00a0participate of course. <\/span>be wise. <\/span>I\u00a0refrained to\u00a0tea,\u00a0 J\u00e4gerthe to tell you the truth. <\/span>Daytime J\u00e4germeistertje, to descend faster. <\/span>Here I find the memories of that winter on the roadside: a photo of a bottle J\u00e4ger Tea, with Tosca. <\/span>So boss, so dog. <\/span>Nice associations. <\/span>That’s\u00a0nice\u00a0about walking. <\/span>I can let my mind wander. <\/span>Country music from the radio. <\/span>Sometimes when I walk gazing at the horizon, my mind at point zero, I sometimes get cute\u00a0associations and sometimes I think, why don’t\u00a0I quit.
\nAt<\/span> noon I took a long break, because the walking goes fast. <\/span>Picture of a stork on its nest, in a village. <\/span>Promising inscriptions\u00a0lure me miles in advance to home- and \/ or larger eat- or drink opportunities. <\/span>Everything anywhere is closed\u00a0in the afternoon, even the herring museum and the storks museum. <\/span>One\u00a0cafeteria\u00a0was going to\u00a0open later, but the door was open. <\/span>Kann ich eine Tasse Kaffe kriegen, bitte, (can I please get a coffee) I\u00a0shouted to the\u00a0back. <\/span>Kindly, but firmly, no. <\/span>Rule is a rule.
\n<\/span>It struck me that in the hotel yesterday and anyway averywhere I see a lot of\u00a0“musts” and\u00a0prohibitions. <\/span>Is that\u00a0in the Netherlands\u00a0similar?\u00a0I have to think about that.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>In France I saw a 1000 signs “cache priv\u00e9e”, hunting prohibited. <\/span>And in Spain\u00a0on the walls all over was written prohibido fichar carteles:\u00a0no posters. <\/span>Grafitti is\u00a0allowed everywhere apparently.\u00a0I have the impression in the South there were less rules. Maybe there were as many rules, but just not being followed.<\/span>
\n<\/span>For dog lovers, which is half\u00a0of the population\u00a0because the other half are dog haters: dogs\u00a0may not piss,\u00a0may not poop, may no get\u00a0inside, forbidden\u00a0to bark, may not run free and preferably\u00a0 do not come close. <\/span>In short, they\u00a0may not\u00a0be a\u00a0dog. <\/span>Only such a non-dog is tolerated. <\/span> So, Tosca was all wet. <\/span>Cold?\u00a0E<\/span>ven on a leash during the lashing hail, she is still trying to jump in a pool of water. <\/span>She found\u00a0at the roadside the body of a car hit, rotten deer. <\/span>Mmm,\u00a0lucky her. <\/span>Later, a bag of thrown away fries with two hamburgers. <\/span>If\u00a0she got bored, she took a stick to drag along. <\/span>Harrie animal torturer? The fur of m<\/span>y prot\u00e9g\u00e9 (which is not a part of myself, mind you)\u00a0\u00a0 is shiny \u00a0and she looks healthy\u00a0like eternal life. <\/span>Today she has walked\u00a0only 35 to 40 km.<\/span> And we are amazed at the Dutch wolf, which can cover such distances. <\/span>A little dog can do that too, even when running on asphalt all day with his pads. <\/span>All that\u00a0fuzzing with those fat brats, wearing dog booties, lying on blankets and eating indulgent food, lying on the sofa or in bed. <\/span>Apparently\u00a0many people\u00a0experience such\u00a0a\u00a0shortage of love\u00a0that\u00a0pets are being kept like\u00a0living toys.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Arriving in Hassbergen\u00a0 my Unterkunft (shelter), Gasthof M\u00e4rtens, Hauptstr. <\/span>71, proved closed on Wednesdays. <\/span>What\u00a0now? <\/span>I rang. <\/span>No reaction. <\/span>Does\u00a0sh.. keep happening?\u00a0Let’s try to<\/span>\u00a0call. <\/span>A man, presumably even older\u00a0than I am: <\/span>OK. <\/span>It turns out to be fine. <\/span>Tosca\u00a0 may sleep in the stable, good on straw, with the company of a\u00a037- year-old horse . <\/span>Did not\u00a0know a horse could be\u00a0that old. <\/span>But perhaps the old man\u00a0started making mistakes.\u00a0<\/span>Because when I inquired about wifi he looked like\u00a0he heard thunder in far away Cologne. <\/span>And that’s pretty far away. <\/span>The address I had in mind for tomorrow\u00a0did not answer my phone call. <\/span>That sucks, because tomorrow I have to back 30 km., in a whatever weathers.
\n<\/span>You see, I\u00a0‘m filling up the evening because<\/span>\u00a0I write a lot. <\/span>An SMS from Mechelen\u00a0 noticed that my blog has been more cheerful, lately. <\/span>It’ll be even more enthusiastic, because …
\n<\/span>enough is enough. Stop\u00a0<\/span>all this nonsense. <\/span>Finito, schluss, this is the end, c’est ca, basta. <\/span>At Easter I’m home and I stay home.\u00a0All this\u00a0darn searching for places to sleep<\/span>\u00a0each night. <\/span>Either movy director Rudy should\u00a0be able to gather\u00a010,000\u00a0E\u00a0\u00a0to finance the film of this trip, or Mama Alice must have reached 10,000 E. <\/span>Otherwise: end of the\u00a0exercise\u00a0at Easter. <\/span>Trip end.\u00a0<\/span>Voil\u00e0! <\/span>Nice and\u00a0cozy up to the fireplace, home –\u00a0sweet home –\u00a0Chicago (Chicago, because that is the song). <\/span>Purring cats, a\u00a0woman who puts my slippers ready, makes coffee and turns on the TV for the daily portion of misery. <\/span>Hope that “my” Sonja does not read this! I thought all those lonely Spanish and French landladies \u00a0would treat an elderly, poor pilgrim like me the same way, but no, you know. I had to\u00a0experience that\u00a0one’s own fir<\/span>e place is worth gold<\/span>. Ergo, I stop the entire\u00a0exercise.
\n<\/span>Now I’m halfway through the journey. <\/span>About 3700 km. finishe<\/span>d. <\/span>Still not that bad, huh?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Veel\u00a0Much seems to be forbidden in Germany<\/p>\n

\"Is<\/a>Everything seems to be closed<\/p>\n

\"Herinnering<\/p>\n

\"Doet<\/a>Makes me think of our local shepherd Ger in Eperheide<\/p>\n

\"Lunchpauze\u00a0Tosca rests on the floor in a lunchroom<\/p>\n

\"Tosca<\/a>Tosca enjoying herself<\/p>\n

\"Cafeetje,<\/a>Cafetaria closed<\/p>\n

\"Vakwerkkerk\"<\/a>Log timbered church<\/p>\n

\"Ooievaarsnest,<\/a>storks nest, close to storks museum<\/p>\n

\""Ooievaarsnest"<\/a>storks’ nest closed<\/p>\n

\"Gesloten\"<\/a>closed<\/p>\n

\"Ook<\/a>closed too<\/p>\n

\"Vakwerk\"<\/a>Traditional construction<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Geboden,<\/a>\u00a0Musts, prohibitions<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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