Sluuuuuurp shlop. Sluuuuuurp shlop… the sound of my mud laden boots sucking and slopping my way across the North Sea flats.
Wadlopen is a most famous Dutch activity in the summer months. There are few other places in the world where you can leave an island 10km’s away and walk back to the mainland. This is the north sea wilderness
I met Katrina, my Rotary buddy, on the train, along with the rest of the meetup group. It was only 7:30am and our transport plan to the start point went bike > train> bus > ferry > tractor > walk. Fifty or so people made the start and a couple of rugged Dutch guides led the way. The tide was apparently falling but it felt utterly counter-intuitive walking deeper, deeper into the sea. Water surrounded us for kilometres and was by now above our waists…
But the guides weren’t concerned in the slightest as they sought to angle our path through the sea. The speed at which the water disappeared was spooky - like a ghost it was soon gone. Left behind was a gluggy black and brown mud and kilometres further to walk. Shoes needed to be re-tied to keep them on our feet and in good company we continued across these beautiful tidal flats, encountering occasional mud crabs or mussel beds. Deep into the evening the dark mood of the clouds lightened up sending down shards of evening light, reflecting magically off the glistening surface.
It took us four hours but everyone eventually made it, caked in mud. But who cares, mud washes off, and even your clothes and shoes don’t stink if you wash them for a week! I was still smiling anyway 
More photos here:
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on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Netherlands.
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