In June, Matt will be participating in the Caledonian Challenge, in which he will be hiking 54 miles nonstop along the West Highland Way in Scotland. He thinks that things like this are fun. I think they are work. The hike benefits the Scottish Community Foundation, and each hiker must raise 500 GBP in order to even sign up, and is expected to raise even more. Matt's company is sponsoring him and many of his colleagues from the London and Munich offices. He is the only one in the Amsterdam office signed up to do it. As my itty-bitty corporate communications company can't even get it together to have a proper cash forecast, I got a "get-out-of-hiking-free" card. ---- www.caledonianchallenge.com
In preparation for the challenge, Matt, myself and our American friend that lives in Rotterdam, Craig, took the train up to the small village of Castricum for a 15k hike up to Egman on Zee beach. Matt had a rugby game in Castricum once, and his Dutch teammates described the town as "there is no f*cking reason for anyone to ever go there." Except for a rugby game apparently. And a hike.
The hike started off as expected - very, very flat. But eventually the scenery started becoming more beautiful, and we actually walked up hills, which is pretty much unheard of in Holland. One of the highlights of the day came when we saw a Dutch cowboy brushing his horse and then jumping on and riding it into the sun...sun. Very odd.
In preparation for the challenge, Matt, myself and our American friend that lives in Rotterdam, Craig, took the train up to the small village of Castricum for a 15k hike up to Egman on Zee beach. Matt had a rugby game in Castricum once, and his Dutch teammates described the town as "there is no f*cking reason for anyone to ever go there." Except for a rugby game apparently. And a hike.
The hike started off as expected - very, very flat. But eventually the scenery started becoming more beautiful, and we actually walked up hills, which is pretty much unheard of in Holland. One of the highlights of the day came when we saw a Dutch cowboy brushing his horse and then jumping on and riding it into the sun...sun. Very odd.
The day was amazing - beautiful clear skies and our first peek at spring temperatures. 3 hours and just over 15k later, we ended up on the beach. Aside from the fact that it was not typical beach weather, it was packed with people hanigng out, having beers, walking their dogs. We stopped at a beach-front cafe for some Heinekens and french fries. We then bussed our way to Alkmaar, where Matt and I took the train back to Amsterdam, and Craig to Rotterdam. An excellent day overall, and it's great to know that Amsterdam actually has places for decent hikes. Matt and I wil be doing this hike again, but he says next time he wants to do a roundtrip for a total of 30k. I think he could train even better if on the way back he pushed me in a little wagon. 
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