Wadlopen

Literally “mud walk”.

So, the other friday Me, Marit, Dorus, Robert and Viki went up in the north of the Netherlands, for a walk in the mud.

How does it work:

The lands in the country are flat. That means that a little variation of the water level has as result a huge extension of land getting underwater.

And vice versa.

Using this natural phenomena, some people had the brilliant idea of making a business out of it.

So they take people on boats, drop them in the middle of nowhere on some island made of sand, and they made them walk back to the land.

As easy as it seems? No!

Because when the water retires, it doesn't leave just sand behind.

If there were people leaving there I'm sure they would have developed a fifty words to describe the different kind of sand you can encounter.

There is the dry sand, the wet one, the one your feet get sucked in, the one with algae on, and that one with a trillion shells in that it sounds like walking on biscuits.

Then you pass rivers.. which are not rivers.. it's just water on the sand! Sometimes the easiest way to walk is to “slide” over, because the longer you stay still, the most your feet fall into the mud.

It's not a place for humans.

It's a place for birds and crabs (and some seals).

If you stay silent you can hear them, hundreds of them, around you.

Beside that, the place is unnaturally silent (or naturally, depends by the point of view). There is no echo at all, since there are not objects around you and the mud absorbs vibrations (like the snow in wintertimes).

It was exhausting sometimes, sometimes it was hilarious, trying to pull other people like in water skiing, or trying to make each other fall in the dirty, stinky mud.

It was indeed fascinating, sand all around you, no reference points... and under your feet just the footprints of the seagulls, the real owners of that reign.