Yesterday my wife and I both had a day off. The weather forecast was great; it was going to be a sunny day and the temperature was going to be above 20 degrees Celsius. That is quite a lot for the start of May in The Netherlands.

The day before we decided to go for a walk, but we didn't decide where we exactly wanted to go. We didn't think a city tour was a good idea and it might be too warm to walk in the polders without any shade, so we decided to go for the dunes. Since we've been walking in the dunes nearby our house quite frequently already, we took the car to the Kennemerduinen which is a 30 minute drive by car.

We had planned to walk from the parking lot to the beach pavilion. The beautiful route followed many winding shell paths and sometimes stretches of soft sand. The image below reminded me a bit of The Wizard of Oz 😜

Despite the temperature, it wasn’t too hot because there was a light breeze. Parts of the walk also went through a wooded area. Here and there along the route, there are benches where you can rest and enjoy the view.

The wooded area in the dunes is full of coniferous trees like pines, firs and larches. The trees are very tall. The shadows make them look even longer than they are.

Unfortunately we didn't see a lot of animals. I think it was too warm for that. You can often spot deer and there are also Scottish Highland cattle for natural grazing. We did see a lizard which had nice bright colour but it was gone before I could grab my phone or camera.
We did see a lot of these caterpillar web nests, they are most likely made by an ermine moth.

After having lunch at a beach club we headed back to the start of our walk. When we were almost back at our car we spotted a large swimming lake. We didn't know there was a recreational lake in this area. It's not very common in the dunes. But there were a lot of people that did know this spot. It was loaded with families enjoying the nice weather and the refreshing water.

After 12 kilometers and roughly three hours of walking we finished our walk. It was a really nice walk in a very beautiful area. We'll surely come back here another time.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on my blog. Feel free to share your perspective in the comments.

Friendlymoose