“If you want to know the story of a place, walk it. For to walk is to apply the rigor of process to place.”
– Craig Mod
Friesland, a northern province of The Netherlands, is rich with a history told by trails. The most famous is the Elfsteden Route (Eleven Cities Route), an historic skating route over 200km of frozen canals linking the eleven cities of the province.
During my recent visit to Sneek, the first city on the historic route (my wife’s hometown), I put my paddle in the water to explore the many water “trails” connecting the city with the region and the world atop a stand-up paddleboard (SUP, thanks to my sister- and brother-in-law for the lend!)
A short 100m of sidewalk brought me and my SUP to the Zwette canal, connecting me with a network of canals to explore.
One direction led to the city. A loop of the historic downtown area included dipping under traffic beneath 11 bridges, and passing by the iconic Waterpoort.
The beauty of trails is their pull to discover the next thing around the bend, or just a little further. along After my downtown tour, I also was curious to connect to other towns by way of canals. Bike trails everywhere mark the Elfstedenfietstocht route, and having followed the SUP 11 City Tour, I was drawn to this historic route via water.
One morning I paddled the Zwette canal from Sneek to Easterwierrum, about halfway to Leeuwarden (thanks to my father-in-law and Anna for the pickup!). Paddling the rural canals is a lonely pursuit shared mostly by ducks, koots, and lily pads, but I was also passed by several boats, and was delighted to cross paths with a couple other SUP paddlers who were in fact training for the 11CityTour. (My father-in-law suggested I tell them I was also training for the 11CityTour, just not sure which year, and he might be onto something 😉 ).
The Elfstedentocht has captured the imagination of many, including the 17,000 (!!!) who completed the last skating tour back 1997, as well as the 15,000 (also !!!) who complete the bike tour each year. It’s also captured the imagination of artists. Check out this great illustration by Evie (van Meij):
Now back home in Canada, I’m scheming about opportunities to one day tackle the full Elfsteden on land or water, but until then, will continue looking for trails to draw my curiosity and, as quoted in Robert Moor’s On Trails (which I coincidentally discovered in a Dutch bookshop years ago, and re-read during this trip), give the opportunity:
- to walk; [or paddle]
- to see; and
- to see what you see!
– Benton MacKaye #
Here’s the chronicle of my SUP adventures in Friesland on our previous visit.