Hiking demands careful preparation, especially when it comes to personal safety. What is in your First Aid Kit? Do you have basic first aid skills to handle an accident? Unless you plan a solitary walk across the Wadden Sea mudflats, help is never far away on the Frisia Coast Trail. Provided you have a swimContinue reading “Come to Rescue ‘The Rolling Sheep’”
Tag Archives: Wadden Sea
♪ They Want You as a New Recruit ♪
‘In the navy’, a song by the Village People. Of the small villages along the southern coast of the North Sea. A water people once united in the mythical Seven Sealands. Moreover, a people who laid the foundations of two of history’s most impressive navies: that of the Kingdom of England and that of theContinue reading “♪ They Want You as a New Recruit ♪”
A Raider’s Portrait From Appels. The Water World of the Migration Period
In 1934, while dredging the River Scheldt near the village of Appels in the region of Flanders, workers unearthed an extraordinary ship’s figurehead (see featured image above). Dated to around AD 400, scholars generally agree it is Germanic in origin and hails from the southern North Sea coast. Yet, to this day, no people orContinue reading “A Raider’s Portrait From Appels. The Water World of the Migration Period”
More Flying ‘Dutchmen’. Learnings From a Simple Innkeeper in Groningen
On the first of February 2020, one of the Frisian bastards of the Frisia Coast Trail tramped the trail section from the town of Bad Nieuweschans to the small village of Termunten. It is a hike of thirty kilometers along the southern shores of the Dollart Bight. The day before, in the evening, the bastardContinue reading “More Flying ‘Dutchmen’. Learnings From a Simple Innkeeper in Groningen”
Happy Hunting Grounds in the Arctic. The Way the Whale’s Doom Was Sealed
If you want to track down who killed the whale, the Frisia Coast Trail region is the place to start. Stop people on the streets along this southern North Sea littoral and ask whether they know anything, and you will likely hear: “I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing.” Politicians and officials —Continue reading “Happy Hunting Grounds in the Arctic. The Way the Whale’s Doom Was Sealed”
Yet Another Wayward Archipelago — The Wadden Sea
The peoples of islands and archipelagos do not let others dictate how to live their lives. One of those archipelagos that meets these criteria as well is the Wadden Sea. For centuries, it is from here that sea explorers, tax evaders, sturdy Arctic whalers, self-righteous women, pirates, privateers, and other vagabonds have come. An archipelagoContinue reading “Yet Another Wayward Archipelago — The Wadden Sea”
Frisia, a Viking Graveyard
Hjoggum vér með hjörvi — ‘we swung our swords’ — as all the stanzas of the twelfth-century epic poem Lay of Kraka begin, the tale of Ragnar Lothbrok’s death. When reading about the famous deeds of great Viking warriors, little attention is given to their moments of failure. Little is written about where and when thoseContinue reading “Frisia, a Viking Graveyard”
A Wadden Sea Guide and His Twelve Disciples — Hiking on the Sea
For those outdoor enthusiasts who consider hiking the mudflats of the Wadden Sea, it is essential to know that this is not just a worldly journey but a spiritual one. The entire Frisia Coast is, in a way, a spiritual belt, protecting the southern coast of the North Sea against northern darkness, according to earlyContinue reading “A Wadden Sea Guide and His Twelve Disciples — Hiking on the Sea”
Our Civilization — It All Began With Piracy
The arrival of the Romans in north-western Europe at the beginning of the Common Era, with the River Rhine as their northern frontier, marked the starting point for five centuries of widespread piracy. These raids affected not only the coasts of Britannia and northern Gaul but rippled as far as the Mediterranean and the BlackContinue reading “Our Civilization — It All Began With Piracy”
Out of Averting the Inevitable an Unruly Community Was Born
On March 25, 2020, the coronavirus pandemic was climbing towards its second peak. There was uncertainty about how destructive the pandemic was going to be in the long run. How many family members and loved ones would it take? It was a phenomenon of chaos and destruction that confronted us with the limitations of anContinue reading “Out of Averting the Inevitable an Unruly Community Was Born”
Frisia Coast Trail 