A still large amount of road and city walking took me through Groningen and, you guessed it: along more canals.
Last night wasn’t the best night ever in a tent. It was warmer than it was the day before, which was great, since it meant there was less condensation. But at some point, I let a lot of mosquitoes into the tent, and when they bit my hands, it was incredibly itchy.
The sun came out this morning for a little while, which was great in helping to dry off the tent before packing. Only the ground sheet was still a little damp, the tent itself was pretty dry.
By the time I left to continue hiking this morning, it had gotten a little breezy, and the clouds piled up, but there was still a little sun. It was also somewhat humid, which was hardly surprising.
The trail started off going over two drawbridges in quick succession, and then settled onto a dirt path alongside the Van Starkenborgkanaal.
I followed the canal for about twenty minutes, until the Pieterpad veered away, following a cyclepath that lead more directly to Groningen. I passed a pasture with five horses congregated at a gate that separated one from the rest. (I think they all must have wanted to be together.)
I also passed a small cemetery on the other side of a canal. This initially felt like an odd place to put a cemetery, until I realized this was adjacent to Groningen’s crematorium.
A signpost purported to point to the geographic centers of each continent; it claimed the center of Oceania is somewhere in northern South Australia, which seems dubious.
The way into Groningen was through several parks. Eventually, I made it into the city itself, and then in short order, was sent into Noorderplantsoen (Northern Park), a large crescent moon-shaped green space, with a pond and a pair of fountains.
This being the Netherlands, I passed over two drawbridges over canals on the way into the city center, with a bit of a diversion because of some construction work at one of the bridges I was meant to cross. In the process, I passed a personal milestone: 12,000 miles on long-distance trails.
In contrast to the parks, central Groningen felt rather quiet and sedate. Groningen’s central district felt a lot like Harlem’s, though maybe a bit more open. Being a Sunday morning, it was rather quiet. There weren’t a whole lot of people out, save at the restaurants. Most other businesses didn’t seem to open until noon; there were several that had patrons seemingly already lined up waiting for the doors to open half an hour early!
I took a short snack break at a small grocery store that had hot meat pastries and a few tables outside. I also needed to do a small resupply, but they didn’t have what I was looking for, so resupply would have to wait for a larger grocery store on the outskirts of Groningen. (I didn’t find what I was looking for there either, but the larger selection gave me more options.)
While I was eating my pastry, two guys with comically large water bottles set them down next to the store and went inside. A short while later, another guy went out of his way to look at the bottles, at which point I knew there was going to be some kind of altercation. When the two guys came out, picked up their water bottles, and walked off, the third guy walked up to them, and a shouting match ensued. I didn’t understand a word any of them were saying, but they managed to get plenty of other people in the street to stop and stare at them until they dispersed.
On the way out of town, I walked past Groningen’s train station, which I transferred at three days ago on my way to Pieterburen.
Several canal bridges later, the trail settled along the Noord-Willemskanaal. An older woman asked if I was walking the Pieterpad, so I guess the trail is at least well-known enough that people are aware of it.
I passed a string of boats tied up on the other side of the canal. Apparently, these are old working boats that have been preserved and converted into houseboats.
Further down the canal, I reached a dilemma: the Pieterpad’s website said that the next bridge down the canal (about 4 km ahead) was going to be closed for maintenance for a week and a half starting August 31st. Now, nearly two weeks later, it seemed like it would have been plenty of time for the work to have completed, but I couldn’t find any other information online, and the couple of people I asked had no idea either. Not wanting to risk adding a bonus 8 km to the day, I very briefly doubled back to take a bridge I’d just passed, and followed the cyclepath on the other side of the canal.
This certainly worked, but the concrete path was sandwiched between the canal on one side, and a drainage ditch and a highway on the other, with no tree cover and only one bench along the whole stretch to where I rejoined the trail.
There were a lot of cyclists, a few runners, a few people on mobility scooters, a couple on inline skates, and even a guy on a motorcycle holding onto a girl on a bicycle and pulling her along.
My feet not getting along with the concrete path at all (compounded with the city walking before it), I stopped for a break on the lone bench earlier than I’d have preferred, just to give my feet a rest.
It turned out that the bridge was, in fact, open for use, so my concrete detour was entirely unnecessary. Oh well.
Rejoining the trail where it crossed to this side of the canal, I zig-zagged along a couple of streets, entering De Hondsrug UNESCO Global Geopark, and the Drentsche Aa National Park. (The Hondsrug is a ridge of sand formed in the last ice age. The name literally means dog’s back or dog’s ridge. The Drentsche Aa is a river on the west side of the Hondsrug; the national park includes much of the river’s valley and catchment area.)
After entering the national park, the trail improved; the concrete and asphalt paths replaced with gravel, with a sandy-dirt road, which I preferred to walk on since it was softer on the feet.
After the time in the city, and along the cycle path next to the canal, I greatly appreciated the much softer paths.
The trail eventually came to a field, and cut through it on a gravel path, then entered forest.
The forest was a great improvement on the day, if not nearly long enough.
At one point in the forest, someone built a bench around a tree, with a wide hole for the tree (already several meters tall) to expand into as it grows.
After exiting the forest, the trail continued to follow sandy roads for a while longer, until I eventually reached my destination.
Around 4, I arrived at Natuurvriendenhuis De Hondsrug (Nature Friends House De Hondsrug), and quickly got checked in for my tent site. The manager at reception offered me coffee or tea, which I declined; instead, he gave me the beer I’d gotten out of the fridge for free. Awesome! (Nothing like a cold drink after being out walking all day; who wants a hot drink when they’re sweating?!)
I quickly got my tent up, got a shower, and started on an early dinner. I also booked tomorrow’s accommodations: a tiny cabin for a very reasonable 45€, and a breakfast for the next morning.
While I was having dinner and relaxing in the small kitchen next to the tenting area, I witnessed what must be the stupidest insect presently alive, a blue-metallic beetle that spent most of the two hours I was in the kitchen wriggling around on its back. I flipped it over a couple of times, only to find it very quickly after on its back again. The best part was when it got itself righted once it wriggled into a corner, then took flight, flew into a wall, bounced off and landed on its back again.