Sunday 12 May 2013
| Distance (km) | 21 kms | |||
| Distance (time) | 4,5 hrs | |||
| Hard / Soft surface | 60% / 40% | |||
| Landscape |
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| Weather |
 →  11° 6 Bft
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On Saturday the weather completely sucks and it just rains and rains. So….no walking. Sunday is still overcast in the morning with the promise it will clear up in the afternoon and so we decide to go for it. In weekends and on public holidays there is no regular bus to Nieuw Vossemeer and so, before we leave home, we already call our transport on demand from Oud Vossemeer to Nieuw Vossemeer after which we jump into the car and drive to Bergen op Zoom where we arrive way to early. We have to wait almost half an hour for our bus to Oud Vossemeer and unfortunately here it's raining so we wait in the bicycle depot watching a curtain of drizzle fall down. Oh well, whatever falls down now we can't get on our heads anymore, right?
We take the bus passing Tholen to Oud Vossemeer where we're the only ones leaving the bus. So now we have to wait for our bus on demand. About 10 minutes later a taxi van arrives stopping at the wrong side of the road asking us whether we called for transport. Yep, that's us. Our driver is from Goes and so not very well known around here and therefore she asks us how to drive. Hum, I don't know? Who's the driver here? But ok, we get there, more or less. In Nieuw Vossemeer there is a cycle tour going (we already saw stacks of fences on Friday and wondered what they would be used for) that uses part of the main road including the dike where the GR5 passes. But with a small detour we get to the bus stop where we ended last Friday. Fine with us, and the ride was for free again (don't you love on demand transport!). We pass through Nieuw Vossemeer hoping to pick up the GR5 somewhere without having the cross the cycle tour which doesn't really seem to be possible. So we cross (with permission of the organisation) and leave the village in tranquillity. We pass a camping site and then follow a dike. First on the land side, later at the canal side. The latter is nice because cars are not allowed here. But then there is so much sheep dun that it's hard to walk without getting your shoes full of it. After a considerable piece along the Rhine-Scheldt canal the route veers east along a trail at the foot of a dike. The landscape changes rapidly here from large flat areas with asparagus to small meadows separated by wooded banks and some forest. We pass around Halsteren and re-enter the forest on the east side of the village. We now follow soft trails passing the ruins of fortress De Roovere with an ingenious “under water bridge” to cross the moat, also known as the “Moses bridge”. Then we go back into the forest until the road around Bergen op Zoom. From here it's just streets to the downtown. Until now the weather was overcast and windy, but while approaching the downtown the sun finally appears. A bit late, almost 5 o'clock, but better than never at all I guess. We still need to travel an hour to get home so we decide to have a bite before continuing to the railway station. Sitting still is killing for the muscles however and so the last 500m to the railways station are harder than expected. Apart from that it was a nice stage today. |
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Download track NVoBoZ.gpx