2012-05-15 53 6

[edit] Location

Lettelbert

[edit] Participants

[edit] Plans

Go there by bike. Hope the hash isn't too inaccessible as it's in the middle of an agricultural area. And hope the farmer has no aggressive dogs.

[edit] Expedition

I left around 11 o'clock, by bike. The first part went quite well. Some light drizzle, but nothing I couldn't handle. I spotted some Dutch Belted cows, a traditional race from this area. Having cycled about 4 km, I arrived in a nature area called "de Onlanden", a treeless watery landscape. Unfortunately this was also where the rain intensified. I regretted not packing waterproof pants. A passing cyclist alerted me to a spoonbill in one of the lakes, quite a rare bird and, according to him, something he had never seen in this place before (he went there every day). I thought this was quite cool.

This was where the trouble with the road started. I don't know how many detours and trackbacks I made, but they were too many. I used a combination of paper map and road signs that didn't work very well. In the end I found the right route again; by then I had cycled at least 15 km and I was very wet and quite tired. I also saw a pair of stork in flight.

I rounded the tip of the Leekstermeer (having cycled south of it) and found the little forest near the hashpoint. Excitement! There was even a path in the forest. Not used very often, but it was very clearly a path. At some point the way was blocked by a fallen tree, I climbed over it. In the back of the forest the path had become a very narrow track flanked by knee-high stinging nettles on both sides. I reached the tip of the forest most near the hashpoint (which itself was located on a meadow). The 4 things I would have to cross to reach it were: 1) shoulder-high brambles and stinging nettles 2) a fence, possibly electrified 3) a ditch 4) a herd of about 20 cows. At this point I decided to call it a day and cycle back (along a slightly more straightforward route).

[edit] Photos

My bicycle (with map and signpost)
One of the dead ends I accidentally took. Also local landscape and OMINOUS DARK RAINCLOUDS OMG
You'll just have to believe me in that that white dot in the middle of the picture is a spoonbill.
I climbed over this. Oh yeah.
Proof that I got really very wet.
Proof that my pants also got wet and that there were nettles.
And... thwarted. D:
Random sign on the way back that I found peculiar. (It says "Very dangerous! Canal crosses high-voltage cable. Max height of ship 30 m".)