Thursday, september 28, 2023

We slept a lot better than yesterday in Hotel Restaurant de Jong in Nes, Ameland.
This is mainly because Pia's stomach complaints completely disappeared during the course of yesterday. We do wake up early, but that's probably because we went to sleep early yesterday.
The breakfast is good just like yesterday and now we are also taking a few sandwiches with us for lunch.
After breakfast, Tom calls the company that organizes expeditions on the Wadden Sea Expeditie Waddenzee and reserves two places for 2:00 PM this afternoon.

Today we want to cycle to the Oerd, a nature reserve on the east side of Ameland, which consists of old high dunes and moist dune valleys where the seawater flows freely in and out through channels as a result of the tides.
As we cycle away, first towards the beach, we notice that it is cooler than yesterday, it is also much more cloudy and there is much more wind. Fortunately we are dressed for this weather, and luckily we have a tailwind on the way there.
Just before the beach we turn right onto the cycle path to Oerd. Just like yesterday, this is a good and wide shell path.
We cycle almost the entire way through the dunes, sometimes up and down and the landscape is beautiful and varied. On the way we also see a rabbit, and on the way back even pheasants. It is quiet, we encounter few other cyclists.
The cycle path ends at a dune called Oerdblinkert, a dune of almost 24 meters high with a shelter with toilet at the foot and a viewpoint on top. Of course we walk up, we are the only people at the top, and enjoy the view of both the North Sea and the Wadden Sea. In the distance we see Schiermonnikoog.
It is gradually becoming busier on top of the dune. When we get back down we see that there are at least ten bicycles.
We cycle back quietly and stop along the way at a place with a beautiful view over the watery meadows behind the dunes. Lots of sheep walk around here.

We are back in Nes around 12 o'clock, and Tom wants to take a look around Nes.
We eat the sandwiches we have with us on a bench somewhere in Nes.
We walk around and take some pictures.

At a quarter to 2 we cycle to the pier where the boat we are going on our expedition with, the Brakzand, is moored. About 15 more people and two school classes are going along.
The expedition consists of fishing with a trawl net, receiving explanations about the catch and sailing along a sandbank where seals are often found.
The crew consists of a captain and a young man who does the rest of the work, loosening and tying ropes, being a bartender and, above all, giving explanations. He does this with great enthusiasm and the schoolchildren love it. As far as we can tell, he knows what he's talking about.
Catching fish is mainly intended for schoolchildren, most of whom find it very exciting.
After a while we arrive at the sandbank and there are indeed about twenty seals. The boat remains stationary, photos can be taken, and after a while the seals all bump towards the water almost simultaneously. Then the boat sails on again.
Suddenly we hear a boom and the boat is almost still, a sandbank that has moved in the channel. After some maneuvering, the boat is released again and sails back to the Ameland pier.
All in all we spent about 2.5 hours on the road, not very exciting but fun to experience.

Back at the hotel we secure the bicycles on the bicycle carrier on the back of the car, we have to leave very early tomorrow. We see that a refrigerator has been placed for us in front of our room.
We reserve a table in the hotel restaurant, we also had dinner there the day before yesterday and we have the feeling that the choice is about the same in all the restaurants we have seen.
We walk a bit and then have a drink at one of the restaurants, NesCafe. This looks nice, but it's not to our taste, we think it's a bit posh.
We walk back to Restaurant De Jong and eat Mixed Meat and Beef Teriyaki. It tastes good to us.
When we have finished eating we pay for everything, the room and twice the restaurant bill. And we receive our breakfast packages for tomorrow morning.

Written on: 2023-09-30

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