Walking in Kampina nature area

Social distancing is still here and here to stay. The doggo is still in need of walks and swims and he is also here to stay. What better way to spend a days walking around nature, which is so much more closer than you think and taking some time so discover the beauty nearby.

At the start of the trail there was an interesting sign referring to the second world war. Also so much more history in here than we are aware of. Hidden stories by local heroes.'

' I wasn't a hero. Like a thief in the night, as a mole I was searching my way. I didn't have a name or a face, and what I did was erased. I was nothing more than a mouthless soul who let his heart scream.'

Victor Vroomkoning wrote this poem as a memory for all the resistance members bringing food around in the milkcan by bicycle.

I was not aware the Kampina region being so close to me until I was searching for nice walks on the interwebz. More than one hike came up and I got more interested of this whole region to see what was going on here. There is a variety of options. Lake and swamp routes, sand dune routes, and forest routes. And that all in whatever distance that you choose yourself in the variety of 1.8 kilometer to 20 kilometer. Just follow the signs!

Another part of the monument at the entrance

Walking time! We choose the route of 6 kilometers and took more than one detour choosing between forest and sunny sands. The weather was very Dutch I would say ;) Cloudy and cold, and sunny and very pleasant all within the hour. Jacket on, jacket off the whole time. The start of the route was a nice path that almost reminded me walking through a park in the city with these super nice maintained paths. These paths are especially for wheelchairs and strollers and it is really cool they put such a nice route there

Moving on to the sand dune area there were also some open field where families were having sort of a picknick time. There are no garbage bins (nature area and so) so hopefully respects those rules and takes their crap with them ;) But next to that, what a cool colour scheme right? This red vegetation almost seemed like from another world to me, and it almost needed a flamingo in there I found.

After that we found a lake area where it was almost more than attractive to let the dog swim, but I was not really sure if there might be some quicksand effect around it because of the swampiness, so I decided to keep the dog with me. Didn't work all the time though I realized when I found that mister with black feet every now and then from the mud. Stunning views!

After walking around more than one little lake we hit the more foresty area, when it almost seemed as if vines were grown there. Endless field of vines were the result and mister doggo loved running through those searching for the balls we were throwing for him

And offcourse what is a walk without having a decent beer afterwards. Also in the first picture you can see a 'Brothers in Law' beer from this Amsterdam brewery which really have excellent stuff. Also this 'Mooie Nel' beer from brewery 'Jopen' is one of the favorites during quarantine and is never a loser. The Brothers in Law beer you see on the first picture is a Hoppy white one, but actually their IPA is really one that I try to bring with me every time I am in the shop. Handle with care though! Those IPAs are heavy hitters and are not fooling around!

Walking around the Kampina region was surely a success and I definately will be back for more hikes there. Don't tell everyone though, we want it to stay social distance proof ;)