Blogging at 22:00 on Sunday 21st July from intended overnighting spot N 53.34684°, E 06.26874° / http://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:53.34684%2C06.26874
We escaped the wretched floating cash cow at about 09:15 and then spent about three quarters of an hour inching forward in the queue to clear immigration. Irritatingly, everyone was kettled; rather than the dedicated EU passport holders' booth being dedicated to EU passport holders, all booths did all travellers and the only filter at play was vehicle size. We were in the 'big' queue.
Once clear, we decanted from the port and were, as we always are, immediately impressed by the organisation, civility and general feeling of competence that ensues in the Netherlands. It's everything England isn't. The truly awesome cycleways (pic), the lack of litter, the well-maintained infrastructure, the outstanding civil engineering, the clean trains, the countless rows of unlocked bikes left in purposefully installed bike stands, the (very long) list goes on and on.
Lamenting our own broken country's pitiful litter-strewn state we bumbled generally north and were further struck by how even the farming and countryside management here is also streets above our own. We've witnessed it and commented on it before, of course, but the comparison to England is so stark it still comes as something of a pleasant surprise. There are abundant hedgerows and clean watercourses criss-crossing (fairly obviously) unimproved / semi-improved pastures complete with set-aside margins and assemblages of vegetation that bely the fact the Dutch do not go nuts with biocides. And guess what, these very same pastures and margins are absolutely rammed with birdlife. These are clearly sustainably managed agricultural resources that help support, rather than decimate, wildlife.
Without even trying we saw dozens of species in numbers we just don't encounter back home. Amongst the more noteworthy were white storks, ruddy shelduck, spoonbills, marsh and hen harriers and a white common buzzard (apparently something only found across a belt at this latitude and into northern Germany).
We're now at the Lauwesmeer National Park, a place we've stayed a few times before and, like always, the landscapes and skies are packed with birds. It's an awesome spot with literally too many geese, wildfowl, waders and raptors to readily compute. I think the most noteworthy species has been grasshopper warbler: heard but not seen in the reedbeds next to the truck.
Speaking of grasshoppers, it's a delight to hear them stridulating here, something else that we've reasonably successfully annihilated in England. It's OK, though. I'm sure the current headlong rush to build more houses and grow The Economy will make all that better.
Oh, wait.
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