Friday 10 May 2013
| Distance (km) | 24 kms | |||
| Distance (time) | 5 hrs | |||
| Hard / Soft surface | 90% / 10% | |||
| Landscape |
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| Weather |
 ->  12° 7 Bft
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The wind seriously picked up during the night and in the morning the sky is overcast. It's supposed to stay dry though and so we jump in the car again and head again for Middelharnis. Since today is Friday and not a public holiday there will be a regular bus to Herkingen instead of an on-demand bus. Well, regular, it's a very tiny bus and we're again the only passengers. Our driver tells us he's from Nieuw Vossemeer, our end point of today, and he warns us that the last bus leaves there just after 5:30. We're aware of that but just to be sure he gives us his address in case we miss the last bus. Very friendly!
In Herkingen we take the cycle path along the dike and not until then we notice how much wind there really is. There is an impressive noise of the ropes of the sailing boats hitting the masts and we can still hear it at considerable distance. The dike itself is unfortunately completely tar sealed in contrast to yesterday when we walked in the grass. Only at the toe of the dike there is a narrow strip of grass that is very muddy. Hence, we walk the tarmac. At the hamlet Battenoord my dear wife really needs a toilet and since there is a camping site we decide to take a short detour. At the reception of the camping site we explain and they're so nice to let her use the toilet after which we pass over the camping back to the dike. In order to get over the dike we have to seriously conquer some head wind and it's not even that east to stay on our feet. Officially it's wind force 7 today and it really feels like that. We continue to the Grevelingen dam. Here we have to turn right against the wind to the start of the Philips dam and with the gusts of wind across the dam that is easier said than done. We then pass along the cycle path underneath the N59 main road and enter the Philips dam. From a distance we notice the height of the bridge passing over the Krammer ship locks and we're starting to worry a bit. It's not so bad in the end and we walk with relative ease to the other side of the bridge where the lookout tower is. Here we climb over the railing down the stairs to the parking next to the tower. Since this is the first more or less sheltered spot today we decide to make it our lunch stop. From the parking we follow the tarmac road parallel to the N257 (the main road to Steenbergen). In the far distance we can see the arch of the bridge passing over the Rhine-Scheldt canal, which is supposed to be “our” bridge just before Nieuw Vossemeer. But first there is a loooong section along the cycle path over the Philips dam. There is little shoulder to walk on in the grass and there is just tarmac, tarmac and tarmac. The lake on our left is pretty, but nevertheless it's a boring section. When we finally reach the end of the dam and we're back on land there is a low dike on our left with a trail on the other side. We'll take the trail! Finally soft ground under our feet ánd sheltered for the wind. The dike turns to the left a kilometer further on in the direction of the canal. Not a problem, so does the GR5. At the canal we should follow the dike along the canal, but the path is blocked by a barb wire fence. So we have no choice then to follow the tarmac road at the foot of the dike. We're now almost at “our” bridge over the canal, but when we look at the map and the GPS we realise….it's not “our” bridge at all. We've seen the bridge for a long time now, but we have to go one bridge further down the canal. That's depressing, also because can't actually see the next bridge yet. So we follow the tarmac road to the bridge that isn't our bridge anymore and get onto the dike. The direction we were supposed to come from is here as well block with a fence. Behind the fence we can still see a fading GR5 sign. We pass underneath the bridge and now we can see “our” bridge and damn, it's far away. My wife invents some new unfriendly words but we have no choice but to push on. The first part passes grass meadows along the nature reserve Eendracht. An area that was part of the defense line during the 80-years war between The Netherlands and Spain. After the nature reserve it will be tarmac again, unfortunately, with barb wire on either side very close to the road. The only car that wants to pass us here makes us move seriously into the barb wire otherwise it would have been impossible for him to pass. But then: The Bridge. We pass underneath and climb up on the other side to the cycle path. We pass the bridge over the cycle path and keep going straight ahead passing on the outside of the village Nieuw Vossemeer until we finally see the bus stop. It’s 20 minutes before the second-last bus of today to Oude Tonge. Hence, we don’t need the help of our friendly bus driver earlier today. The bus is on time and we go to Oude Tonge where we transfer to the bus to Middelharnis…..en Goedereede. Funny, that bus we know! In Middelharnis we walk to the car and drive home. That 50 minutes drive isn’t doing any good for the legs because at home we stumble to the house. Clearly too much tarmac for one day. |
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