Our second\nwalk on our quest is in the region of Drenthe, which to many Dutch people\nbetter known as Het land van Bartje.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

• <\/figure><\/li>

  <\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

  Have you\nnoticed the somewhat strange titel of this blog? Whenever I think of Drenthe,\nthe first thing that comes to my mind, are these words. They are from a book\ncalled Bartje, written bij Anne de Vries in 1935 and translated into many\nlanguages. Maybe you have heared of it or even read it yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  For my dutch\nreaders, there was even a tv serie of it in 1972.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I don\u2019t know\nabout the youth, but every single person of my generation and older grew up knowing\nthese words were spoken by a little boy called Bartje. This little boy grew up\nin a poor family of farm workers, somewhere in the region of Drenthe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Because of\npoverty they ate a lot of brown beans ( in those days they ate them with bacon;\nit was a cheap meal and it gave you a comfortable fullness of the stomach). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Bartje came\nfrom a religious family and therefore had to pray every night before dinner. One\nnight when, as every other night, there were again beans on the table, his\nfather told him to pray. At that moment Bartje spoke the legendary words in\ndialect: ik bid nie veur brune bonen ( I don\u2019t pray for brown beans). You might\nhave guessed by now, the boy didn\u2019t like these beans and refused to pray. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • <\/figure><\/li>

    <\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The\nweatherforcast for today is the least dreary fort his weekend. Tomorrow will be\na lot worse and wet. Today will be windy, but they promised it will be a day\nwithout rain. So let\u2019s hope for the best. I prefer wind over rain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s not the\nforecast that made us a small group today. Unfortunately we have a flu pandemic\nthat has been going on for 9 weeks already. So far I thought it had passed my\ndoor. Unfortunately, a couple of days ago it started with a bad cold, but like\nso many other people, I didn\u2019t have time to give in. I had two job interviews\nthat needed to be done and of course I had to do the second walk of our\nchallenge. So no whining, I took some aspirin and went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • <\/figure><\/li>

      <\/figure><\/li>

      <\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Luckely I\ndidn\u2019t have to drive by myself today. Vera was so kind to pick me up. Ever\nsince we met in Glasgow a year and a half ago, the two of us have  become true friends and get along very well.\nThat\u2019s what My Peak Challenge does for you, it provides you with a large group\nof new friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Drenthe is\nsituated in the Northeast of the Netherlands and with almost 500.000\ninhabitants the least populated region in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Although my\nfirst memory of this region had every thing to do with a book I read as a\nchild, there are more things this region is famous for. In Drenthe you can find\n52 \u201cHunebedden\u201d. If I have to translate it to english I think \u201cDolmen\u201d is  the correct word, although archaeologists will\ntell us differently. Hunebedden are huge Catacombs built of at least three very\nlarge stones, you can find them mostly up north from the city of Emmen to the\nthe city of Groningen. Unfortunately not in the part of Drenthe we walked in.\nWho nows maybe next time I\u2019ll see some.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • <\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Jiska showed\nus a part of Drenthe I had never been before and I was impressed by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Such a small\ncountry and still every place I\u2019ve walked so far is so different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        I read\nsomewhere that you can compare Drenthe with a plate upside down. The round center\npart consists of sandy soils and the borders consist of peat bogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        We walked in\nthe surroundings of the village Echten and saw both. On the sandy soils we saw\nbeautiful moors. It\u2019s a pity they only bloom from mid-August until the middle\nof September. Or maybe it\u2019s not so bad after all for now we have a good excuse,\nto come back, and we will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        • <\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          I told you\nthis region is famous for many things and an other one is \u201cwitte wieven\u201d (white\nwives).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          These \u201cwitte\nwieven\u201d often appear in Dutch folktales. There are various meanings as what\nthese \u201cwitte wieven\u201d stand for. Some say they are the ghost of deceased women,\nothers say they are shreds of mist in hilly landscapes. That\u2019s not surprising,\nfor there was a time we believed that mists where ghosts. Seeing this picture\ntaking by Jiska I believe these \u201cwitte wieven\u201d are definetly shreds of mist.\nSuch a beautiful and mystic picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          •