Terschelling
We’re in the lovely, but windswept, island of Terschelling for a couple of days with Ma en Pa. It’s a totally charming place, “heel gezellig” as the Dutch would say (“very cozy”). It’s about twice the size of Guernsey but only has a population of 4,000 … most of it though is sand dunes!
A speciality of the island is cranberries, believe it or not. During the 19th century a cask of the berries was washed up on the island. One of the locals who opened the barrel and tried the strange berries inside was so disgusted by the taste, as well as being disappointed that it didn’t contain brandy or wine, salvaged the barrel and emptied the contents into the dunes. Over the years they quietly grew and expanded to the extent that they’re growing everywhere now, in the sand dunes, alongside all the cycle paths as well as being cultivated on various farms. Of course a plethora of modern cranberry products are also now available aimed at all the tourists: cranberry cookies, cranberry candles, cranberry soap, cranberry wine and even cranberry beer.
In true Dutch style we hired bikes and proceed to cycle all over the place like mad things. The network of cycle paths, as you would expect in Holland, is truly remarkable. It’s a cyclists paradise.
The weather’s been great apart from a consistent gale force north easterly. As you can imagine cycling into that across flat open countryside and amongst the sandy dunes is tiring and has proved to be an excellent exfoliant! We all have new bright & shiny grit blasted faces 😀
