Our "new old" car is sand free, the kayak carriers are brand new, the roof doesn't leak and we would love to keep things that way: bright and shiny, spic and span, smooth and aerodynamisch. Our car has become a metaphor for growing old and not being able to accept inevitabilities like wrinkles, bags under the eyes and a less than aerodynamische figure.
That's why I suggested we do some flatwater, fresh water kayakking instead of an adrenaline-packed day surfing at the beach. Theo suggested the Nieuwkoopse Plassen where he used to paddle before he got hooked on seakayakking.
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| The Nieuwkoopse Plassen is very close by - a mere 20 minute drive from Aalsmeer. A drive through the green heart of Holland with its grazing-meadows, cows in the early spring grass and centuries old farms took us to this nature preserve managed by the foundation Natuur Monumenten. |
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| This area is too wet for raising crops or grazing cows, a fact that Hollanders already in the tenth century had discovered, but from the 14th century on the bogs were a lucrative source of fuel: peat! |
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| A landscape of long straight strips of land and water was formed - Google maps! - and eventually as a result of erosion lakes and ponds. |
Most of the year the bogs and woods and waterways are undisturbed, but in the weekend in the summer season they are definitely not.
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| Nowadays the reeds are harvested for making thatched roofs. |
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| Today we enjoyed a unique chance under a bright blue March sky for an afternoon and early evening just the two of us, of paddling and reflecting on (wild)life in general. |
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