Face to face with the tops of the trees
Before the Boomkroonpad in the forests of Borger in Drenthe rises more than 22 meters, the path first takes us into the depths, between the tree roots. “Come with me to life underground,” is written invitingly on the wall after the entrance. We enter the subterranean animal kingdom: a fox looks at us from his hole, badgers live in a castle, a mole digs his hole and a hare has his lair. Forest ants crawl above your head, everything artfully made.
Then the path ascends via stairs. The Boomkroonpad of Staatsbosbeheer in Boswachterij Gieten-Borger leads us through a forest consisting of beech, with a stray spruce or pine here and there. It is nice to experience the different ‘layers’ of a forest: after the smooth trunks you reach the branches with leaves that are still fresh in April and finally you are at the height of the treetops themselves. The path has a slightly zigzagging route and reaches the highest point via two steep spiral staircases. From this platform you look over the treetops into the distance. As far as the eye can see: treetops. Nothing can be seen of the inhabited world.
It is nice to look down to the forest floor through the branches and twigs – you can still do that in early spring. The forest is transparent and the beech leaves on the ground have a golden brown color. Signs with pictures of animals indicate who we can meet here in the woods: hawk, buzzard, squirrel. Also woodpeckers, tawny owls. I count a few finches and great tits, at eye level.
When the trees are in full leaf in the summer, you are surrounded by greenery
It will be different here in every season, in the early spring you can look into the distance through the swirl of branches, you can see the slopes of the Hondsrug. When the trees are in full leaf in summer, you are surrounded by greenery and in autumn the beech leaf is like copper. In winter, the branches may be frosted or covered with snow. The Boomkroonpad is only 125 meters long, but it is still worth taking all the time for it. With a little empathy, it’s like you about the treetops runs – a bottom of treetops.
Kester Freriks
Boomkroonpad, Steenhopenweg 4, Drouwen. Information: Staatsbosbeheer.nl/uit-in-de-natuur/beleef-het-boomkroonpad
70 million year old stone, below and above
Tree roots hang above the head of guide Walther Odekerken. They are gossamer offshoots, the remains of a tree that grew above our heads in a not so distant past. “Very occasionally one penetrates to the ceiling of the cave.” But otherwise the outside world feels miles away here – especially when the guide briefly switches off his flashlight. Pitch dark: we are surrounded by underground.
Here in the Valkenburg Roebroekgroeve, one of the many marl caves in South Limburg, the soil is also above your feet. “We walk under the Meerssen layer,” says Odekerken. “A limestone layer of roughly 70 million years old. Remnants of a tropical sea.”
Now and then he points to fossil shells, even a single sea urchin, enclosed in yellow-white stone: the Limburg marl. Geologically speaking, not real marl – then it would have to contain clay – but limestone that was very popular as a building stone for centuries.
Around Valkenburg alone you have about 250 kilometers of tunnel systems
The marl caves are kilometers of corridors, not created by natural erosion, but by man. “Blockbreakers they were called, the men who sawed the limestone into large blocks and gradually eroded the subsoil. Around Valkenburg alone you have about 250 kilometers of tunnel systems. The Roebroek quarry is still of a modest size at 1.5 kilometres, but there are also systems of tens of kilometres. You shouldn’t go wandering there on your own, then you won’t be able to get out.”
Limestone mining in the region began around 1100 and continued for some 800 years. The Roebroek quarry was in use from the 17th century until 1898. Later it served as a stable – hence the nickname cow cave or donkey quarry – and during the Second World War, Germans briefly stored equipment there. “Now the cave is visited by bats in winter. And by tourists all year round.”
Gemma Venhuizen
Information: www.grottentochtvalkenburg.nl
Walk like on a water bed
Feet also have a memory. At least: where walks are concerned. From an earlier mountain trip in France I hardly remember what the environment looked like, but I feel the pain in my left heel again due to the sharp stone in my sock. Or take that time on my brand new Sareks – indestructible boots from the Swedish brand Tretorn, bought above the Arctic Circle over twenty years ago. I misstepped in a peat bog. That sensation, how my boots slowly seeped with water, how my socks got soaked and I continued to swim with wet feet: unforgettable. And then, of course, there are the more pleasant memories. Soft sand between my toes on the beach. Tickling grass under my bare feet, during a stroll through a meadow full of dew drops.
The surface inextricably contributes to our walking experience, and yet we often pay too little attention to that foot sole-soil contact. ‘Standing with both feet on the ground’ is seen as a form of sobriety, but anyone who likes to take a barefoot walk in silence soon gets the reputation of being woolly. While there is an intermediate form: consciously feeling the ground under your feet, simply because it adds something to the walking experience.
With that thought I start on one of the first sunny days of spring on the Blôde Fuottenpaad in Opende in Groningen. You have such barefoot paths all over the country, and often – just like here – they are mainly aimed at children, with all kinds of play equipment along the route. In theory, any walking path can of course be a barefoot path as soon as you take off your shoes and socks, but often sharp stones and shells are lurking, or dog poo, or red-hot asphalt. Promised here in Groningen the website of Staatsbosbeheer a combination of mud, water, sand and grass. Plus point: right next to this path is a marshy ‘boot route’. Two hikes in one, for the ultimate touch experience.
You have barefoot trails all over the country, and often – just like here – they are mainly aimed at children
On this weekday spring day I almost have the Blôde Fuottenpaad to myself; the few hikers I meet have shoes on. The frowning look of a passer-by makes me feel embarrassed.
Should I have trimmed my toenails more neatly? But soon the fun takes over. My step slows down precisely because of the conscious feeling. The haste gives way to calm. Occasionally the route passes a climbing device: a balance beam, or a rope bridge. Those who don’t feel like extra entertainment can simply walk past it, but it is precisely those bare feet that encourage play. As if, by untying your laces, you also gain freedom.
Still, the greatest foot fun starts with the boot route that I walk afterwards, along old peat extraction holes and through open farmland. Already at the first soggy part I notice that the rubber of my old Tretorn boots has really had its day. And so I walk, again barefoot, a bit further. About the quaking bog: a thick, water-saturated package of grass and peat that starts to undulate as soon as you walk over it. The surface springs up and down with every step, like a natural water bed. Out of pure pleasure I make a few hopping jumps, just like the lambs I pass a little later. Barefoot through the grass: this is spring walking at its best.
Gemma Venhuizen