Armed with a prehistoric hollowed -out tree trunk canoe, two Loeizware grindstones and a tent, Casper, Freddy and Johan de Woeste Baren van de Dommel attacked. The employees of the prehistoric village in Eindhoven rowed back from Belgium to the village to experience how people transported goods in the Iron Age. “You can’t find such a grindstone in the Netherlands, then we had to go to Belgium or Germany.”
“We didn’t have a counter with us, but I estimate that we have covered around 40 to 45 kilometers,” Freddy tells Studio040. In total, the men were on the road for three days to get back to Eindhoven from Neerpelt in Belgium. Thursday afternoon they were received with applause after the harsh journey in the homemade canoe.
“People then had to travel very far for some things,” explains Casper. “You can’t find such a grindstone naturally. Then they had to go to Belgium or the Eiffel in Germany.” For the occasion, the rowers took two grinding stones from Belgium for the prehistoric village. Those stones were used in the Iron Age to grind grain.
Disapped in matching prehistoric clothing, the three adventurers started their journey on Tuesday. But it didn’t go easy. “We have noticed that De Dommel is very narrow and fairly shallow for an old tree trunk canoe,” says Freddy. “There were many turns. If it was just straight, it would have been pretty easy.”
The men took as few modern attributes as possible to experience the authentic primal time feeling, no light tents, no modern clothing and no sunburn for the blazing sun. “We immersed our clothing in the water and then put it in our neck to stay cool,” laughs Freddy. “This was our remedy for the sun.”
Along the way they slept on the banks of the river. “The first day we could sleep with someone in the back garden,” says Casper. “We made the canoe last year and we wanted to make a big expedition with that,” adds Johan.
The canoe was made entirely with hand tools. This transformed the stump of the poplar, which weighs around a thousand kilos, into a real vessel. “It is important to keep telling history,” the museum manager told at the time The broadcaster. “And especially to make it livable.”