Last year I had the Exped Synmat Winterlite LW and I wrote this review on it. The R value is very high with a reasonable low weight but for the Pieterpad I didn’t need an high R value. When you Google for “Best air mattress for hiking”, you will probably find the Therm-A-Rest NeoAir Xlite…
Pieterpad: How is it and returning to the trail
Last saturday I’ve hiked almost 23 km and during the hike I decided to go home for a couple of days. A had a blister on my heel which was quite painful, a small blister on my right small tow and different shaving wounds on my feet and hips. Not to make it worse I…
Pieterpad day 9 – 22,6 km
Yesterday morning started off quite rough. It was cold at 5:40 in the morning, I could see my own breathe! My muscles felt very stiff and I started packing very slowly. At 6:20, still cold and stiff I started walking. It took me about 20 minutes to get warm and that my muscles would be…
Pieterpad day 8 – 27,1 km
This morning I left the house of my sister leave the cutest puppy behind, which was a bit of a sad moment. At 6:20 I was on the road again in the area that I grew up in. The official route was through Gramsbergen all the way around and then back to Hardenberg. I know…
Pieterpad day 7 – 25,6 km (+ 500 metres)
This morning I got dropped off in Sleen, where I stopped walking. Unfornately I forgot to start Strava at the start so the first 500 metres is not recorded. This was the first day I saw any clouds! Which was hopeful so the sun would be blocked for a bit. I grew up in this…
Pieterpad day 6 – 0 km (photo recap)
Today was a zero day for me. I planned a rest day quite soon on the trail because I havent practised that much to be honest, or very little at all actually. After day 5 I felt I could go on, but looking ahead, there are a lot of km to go, so strengthen up…
Pieterpad: Music and audio gear
Yes, it is nice to walk on the Pieterpad trail in nature and listen to the birds and the wind going through the trees. Sometimes the trail will go through a village or close to a road with cars on it. For this I like to have some audio in my ears. So what do…
Pieterpad day 5 – 25,5 km
Last night at camping “De warme bossen” was a good night. In the evening they even brought me breakfast for the next morning. I had a good night rest and woke up a bit later. Eventually I was hiking around 7 in the morning. The route was mostly along trees which is good for the…
Pieterpad day 4 – 31,2 km
Last night was colder then the night before. The camping was very quiet, which was a good thing. Went to bed early and got up around 5:15 this morning and was walking before 6 from Schipborg. It was a very nice morning and I felt good! After an hour I changed my clothes and put…
Pieterpad day 3 – 24,1 km
Yesterday evening I realized that I made a mistake by staying at camping stadspark Groningen. There were a lot of different people. Most of them liked to party, especially the students who came back at around 5 in the morning! Opening the doors of their car and closing them violently, a lot of people woke…
Pieterpad day 2 – 23,6 km
I woke up quite early, had some breakfast in the hotel and I was ready to go walking! Unfornately I had to wait almost 2 hours for the bus. Listening to some music and had some coffee, the time went pretty fast. For today I found a camping right in the city of Groningen, in…
Pieterpad day 1 – traveling and 12,3 km
My original plan was to start the Pieterpad tomorrow, June 30. Since last wednesday there is a bus strike and the last 13 km I needed the bus. This is as far as I know, the last day this week of the strike, so tomorrow the busses are going. Because of this I needed to…
Pieterpad 2018: Join Me!
On saturday (june 30) I will start walking on the Pieterpad from North to South. Most of the people that walk the Pieterpad will do it in the weekends, one or two days. I’ve decided to try it all at once, but you still can walk one or maybe even two days on the Pieterpad,…
Pieterpad 2018: Gear list
When you walk the Pieterpad you have the choice to stay in bed and breakfast and hotels, but you can also stay at a lot of campings. I’m choosing for the campings so I am bringing my backpack, tent and so on. So what am I bringing? You can see the whole gear list at…
My plan for the summer: Pieterpad
In my last post I was talking about a hike that I will do this summer. Actually, the start of the hike is in about 2 weeks! So what will my hike be? I will be hiking in my home country, The Netherlands, the Pieterpad. This is a hiking path from the top of the…
The start of a new adventure season!
After the adventures in 2017, the year 2018 started with getting back to work! I found a new job in another city and since starting there I also moved to that city and now I can go to work on a bicycle which is great 🙂 The last couple of months I’ve been setteling into…
Travel thoughts
Every once in a while something from an earlier trip comes to mind, a nice experience. Somehow this always happens when I’m in the shower 🙂 These small moments made the traveling special! I had a lot of good and different experiences on my arctic circle hike. In no particular order. Hiking high up in…
Training and Trail Running
This is the 100th post that I’m writing for my website, so it better be a positive one! One of the things I noticed on my Arctic circle hike was my legs, the muscles were really hurting after three weeks. That was a learning moment for me. The last couple of months I’ve been training…
Clothes review Artic Circle hiking trip (part 1)
During my hike in the Artic Circle I didn’t had a lot of clothes me, so every piece had to be good. In this post I will review not everything, only the good and the bad. I’ll start with the good, The Fjallraven Vidda Pro pants, these are expensive but are worth the money. You…
Review: Sawyer mini, platypus and leatherman
A couple of months ago I came back (early) from my hike in the artic circle. I have been reflecting on the gear that I brought with me. In this post I will describe my experiences with the gear. You can find the complete gear list here. I have written a number of reviews about…
Surfing (badly) at Arda beach, Portugal
After deciding in Porto that I wanted to go somewhere more quiet, a woman at the hostel I was staying suggested the town called Moledo to me. I searched for a place to stay but it wasn’t possible. After looking on google maps I found the Arda surf hostel in Vila Praia de Ancora. I…