Wadlopen

We woke up at 7am to catch an 8:20 bus from Groningen station to Lauwersoog. Alma delivered our breakfast of eggs, ham, cheese and bread at 7:15. We left with Jack at 8am for the short ride to the station. It was very nice of him to give us a ride and we felt lucky to have found such nice hosts (on the internet no doubt). The bus arrived promptly at 8:20 and we were off on our 45 min ride to catch the ferry. 

Once we got to Lauwersoog, it was not really clear which was the right ferry. So, we basically started walking around asking if anyone knew where we were supposed to go. We found another group who were going off for a 5 hour mud hike, and they invited us to go along with them if we didn't find our group. There was no way we were going with them. I was already beginning to doubt going on a 3 hour mud hike and adding 2 hours was definitely not in the plans. They did direct us in the direction that they thought our ferry would be so we set off there. 

After walking about another 10 minutes we spotted the only ferry with activity around it and were just hoping that it was the one since there was nothing else going on around the dock. We were in luck, it was our boat. There were only 4 people on at the time but it quickly began to fill up and soon there were about 20 of us ready to set off on the hike. The ferry took an hour to actually get to the dry sand bed so we could begin the walk. We were getting anxious but soon enough we were wading in waist-deep water off the boat to get to the sand bed. 

Once we got off the boat, each guide paired up with the hikers and we got a very enthusiastic guide (Johann) all to ourselves. Johann was clearly into Arlette and invited her on a night hike even before we got off the ferry. Johann led the way as we traversed over the dikes and were knee deep in mud at times. Three hours actually went by faster than I imagined. Many times I had to hush the voice in my head going, why are we doing this again!!?? I imagined a different experience - one where I would stand marvelling at the sight of the North Sea in the distance while walking on what would normally be the bottom of the ocean in high tide. 

It was pretty awesome once we were finished but for a couple hours there it was just mud , more mud, and us sinking deeper into mud. At one point, Arlette told Johann that we can't swim and of course he responded that we didn't need to unless high tide came back before the scheduled time. After 3 hours of mud walking we climbed back on the ferry which then took us to Schiermonnikoog (One of the Wadden Islands). Then, we boarded a bus that took us to the center of town and we followed Johann and the other guides to one of the local restaurants. We feasted on the local seafood and for dessert the Dutch pancake dish with Apple filing (Pannekoeken). It was delicious! 

After our meal, Johann and the guides said they were heading off to a lighthouse on the island to visit a friend. The lighthouse was not open for visitors but they invited us along so we headed off with them. Some of the other hikers were at the restaurant with us but they declined the lighthouse trip. There were some great views from the lighthouse and it was pretty neat after we found out that it is only one of two working lighthouses in all of Holland! After the lighthouse we went our own way back to the center of town to wait for the bus to take us back to the ferry and then begin our journey back to Amsterdam. We arrived back in Amsterdam at 11:30pm and basically just showered then fell into bed. It was a great day.  Here are some pictures.