Zeeland could fairly be described as “the bit of Holland that Slartibartfast would have designed, if he hadn’t got so obsessed by the fjords”. Similar heavy emphasis on crinkly coastline, less in the way of majestic cliffs rising precipitously from the foaming brine, but far more windmills and cycle paths.
So, quite different, really.
We just spent a week on the (almost) island of Walcheren ( marked on map above left ) … and it was glorious. Based in a mini camping site by a nature reserve called Oranjezon, a mile walk to the sea , and a 5mile cycle to Veere.
Veere
(SPOILER ALERT : Actual historical facts occur in this section. Sorry !) Veere , we learned, was an important trading port, in the days when it was on the North Sea approach to Antwerp ( see olde worlde map above – but nowadays that link has been blocked off by a dam, so it’s just on a salt water lake, the Veerse Meer. That’s bad news for trade, good news for staying above the waves during high water). Apparently, this is where much of the Scottish wool production entered Europe – indeed there is a Schots House on the quay, and to this day the inhabitants speak with an impenetrable gutteral accent ;-). But mostly we were there to help Saskia renovate the house she has just bought, right on the quayside. This we did by ripping out a perfectly serviceable set of shelving, dumping stuff at the local tip, disassembling a cooker, and sanding down everything in sight. She seemed happy with this.
Delta Works
After the huge cost in life and property of the 1953 floods , the Dutch built a line of sea barriers across Zeeland. We cycled across the sections which connect Walcheren with the next island up, Schouwen-Duiveland. On the way I couldn’t resist posing on the rather silly (and not at all sexist ) podium which somebody has dumped in the middle of the artificial island of Neeltje Jans. If you look closely, you might make out that the blue ladies have crabs (on their skirt hems and bonnets). I’ll leave it there…….
Veerse Meer – sailing
Before they were shut off from the North Sea, the waters round Veere were fished from solid, oak-built sailing boats with the excellent name of hoogaars : literally “high arse”. Local volunteers maintain a fine example , and we took a relaxing trip round the Veerse Meer on it. Technical note – it has a flat bottom ( perhaps that’s what the name refers to ?) so needs a kind of outboard stabiliser on each side called a sword, which they lower when under sail . All together now :
Flat-bottomed hulls,
you make the rowing world go round - yeah !
Van Gogh lives !
Well, his distant cousin does, and we met him in Veere. He is redesigning Saskia’s interior for her. ( Stop sniggering , you know perfectly well what I meant – the interior of her house ). An artist in his own right, Jo Dumon Tak has produced a set of the largest paintings in the world – huge multi frame panoramas of view points around Walcheren – some over 40m long, taking a whole team to assemble. We went to see them on display at a church in Vlissingen – amazing ! https://panoramawalcheren.nl/nl/
( in the style of Uncle Vincent )
Middelburg
This is a lovely old city in the middle of the island – also highly recommended. Like York and Bath might be if the upkeep was more rigorous , 1970s concrete architecture had never happened, and nobody dropped litter.
Sand & Sunsets
Good to hear from you and nice pics. Looks like it’s going well so far!
It’ll do, lass. I could get used to this retirement lark, I think. Still miss having your friendly reminders of all the stuff I’ve missed, though ( ” and what about Luxembourg, then ??” ). 😉
Wish I could see photos up close. You can zoom in a little but not enough…. Van Gogh’s distant cousin…. Talented! I want to see Saskia’s before and journey through. That’s a big ask. Intriguing. All looks like an amazing trip. You won’t go senile, Jonathan. For sure.
Tantalising, eh ? 😉 The panorama paintings kind of need to be seen at full size to get the impact. Not sure about them senility comment – I keep forgetting the words for things at the moment ..
Being the boring military history old duffer that I am, I have long been interested in the Battle of Walcheren in late 1944 when the Allies had to clear the area, so the supply ships could get into Antwerp. The story has recently been revived through a Dutch movie called The Forgotten Battle, which although a little cheesey in places, was overall a good depiction of all the various angles of life during that difficult time. Trailer here: https://youtu.be/bGiR5ZiEWkM
And question is: did you see any memorials of the events on your travels there?
Being the uneducated pleb I am, I’d never heard of that battle – and didn’t notice any references to it while we were there. I guess that predated a lot of the floor protection work which will have closed some of those channels ? But I am not surprised that Dutch would make “cheesy” films. They’re Gouda’t that.