Head to the Beach before summer
Beach near Bloemendaal at sunset
The Dutch learn an important lesson, generation after generation. The country has to be protected from the water. Primarily of course from the North Sea, with it’s now observable rising sea level and those treacherous north-westerly storms. These form such a big threat that every river system of the country can be closed off against them, with ingenious and very different type of barriers. Secondly, the large European rivers of Rhine and Maas flow through the Netherlands towards the sea. They drain every drop of water from the big melt of snow in the Alps through to every of their small and large tributaries through the low lands into the North sea. It all comes together to a mind-boggling 25000 m3 a second on a normal day. No wonder every Dutch is aware of the importance of the hundreds of kilometers of dykes along the coast and the river systems.
No better place to observe this than on the beach. A large number of Dutch children grow up with regular visits to the beach, either on summer holidays or any number of Sunday family outings throughout the year. It is possible to follow the building of a fort in the sand by a group of dedicated children (of all ages) and the efforts that go into protecting it against the rising tide.
A visit to the Dutch beach in summer is not for the faint-hearted though. Young and old, people with dogs and horse riders, fishermen, cyclists, surfers and kite-surfers all claim their bit of sand and water. In summer the beach becomes the playground of so many that getting to the beach resembles an obstacle course of major proportions. Traffic jams, queues for parking spots, bus stops that heave with boom boxes held like babies by beardless youths are just the beginning. As you approach the beach you need a strong stomach to brave the fish and chips and other food outlets that open up shop during summer. You’ll be either nauseated by the smell of rancid fat wafting over or the visual onslaught of those that consume all these offerings. And once you actually make it to the water’s edge you run a slalom around screeching and screaming masses, dogs, balls and other flying objects that make you vow never to come back on a hot summer day.
Luckily for those seeking some solitude, all those months that feature an ‘r’ in the English language provide for many days where this can be enjoyed to a much larger degree. While walking along the sea’s edge, sandpipers can be seen racing at a speed that seems almost impossible for their little feet. On the horizon ships and ferries move in and out of sight in a quiet dance that only they seem to know the choreography of. And when the sun has set, and one returns from a long quiet walk along the coast, the outlines of an occasional deserted and flooded sand castle may be spotted, the builders long gone, the waterline re-taken by an occasional flock of gulls. The souls that one meets can be counted once again on the fingers of two hands.
Photo credit: The picture was taken while walking at sunset along the coast near Amsterdam. Bus 80 will take you to the beach as will the train from Amsterdam to Zandvoort. Walk north or south for hours on end if you wish.