Battenord to Halsteren: E2 Day 104

The dams across the delta were the highlight of my day, but it was overshadowed by frustration in trying to find accommodation.

As I went to use the toilets this morning the lady cleaning them commented that although it was misty at least there was no wind, or rain I added. As I walked along the first of today's dykes, the low clouds were hiding the top of the tall wind turbines. Their slender white stalks just melted into whiteness as they rose into the sky. They seemed linked with the giant "Delta Works" that I crossed today. A series of linked dams designed to prevent a repeat of the deadly flood of 1953. 

I crossed two dams, the Grevelingdam and the Philipsdam. My image of huge concrete barriers was wrong, the dams largely consisted of grass dykes or banks with a road on top, areas of trees, nature reserves on what were maybe once islands, and wind turbines. Arms of land stretched out from the dam to incorporate some of the huge white columns of the turbines. In the Philipsdam there were lock gates. These had recently been renovated. The information boards, which included an English translation, proudly explained a new bubble curtain designed to separate fresh water one side of the dam, used for drinking and irrigation, and salt water sea on the other side. However the explanation was confusing or maybe just incomplete as at one point it was speaking of a horizontal interface between fresh and the more dense salt water, and at other times implied a vertical interface, created by the bubble screen. I watched a large, long, low barge approach the enormous lock, parting the still waters with its bow wave. In this I was assisted by a concrete observation tower that I climbed up. In Britain I felt sure a similar large construction, for example a barrage across the River Severn to generate power, would never be built. They would say the cost was too high and the environment would be too upset, there would be long planning delays and in the unlikely event that such a project was approved there would be endless reviews, studies and efforts to try and stop it.

Approach to locks on Philipsdam. 

A little after the dam the route deviated through a nature reserve. It seemed a scruffy affair with assorted trees, elder, hazel, willow and others and a winding ditch. Cattle and horses were being grazed in the reserve, their hoof prints churning up the path in places. The horses had foals and the cows had calves so I took a detour to avoid getting close to them as advised by the signs.

There followed a stretch beside the Schelde Rijnkanal, a canal busy with barges motoring up or down with cargoes of containers, dry and liquid bulk products. Maybe heading to or from Antwerp or Rotterdam.

A few times today I was not sure whether I should have been on the top of a dyke or on the cycle path and local traffic route that ran beside it. Either way I reached Nieuw Vossemeer around 2:30 pm. I had been trying to find somewhere to stay, one campsite was opening for the season in a week's time, another seemed permanently closed, yet another I could not find. Of the Bed & Breakfast establishments they were either full or their owners were busy elsewhere that evening. As there were plenty of hours of daylight left I continued on my way, initially by the canal, and latter over fields to Halsteren. 

As I walked I mused that in England the paths run around the edge of fields or even through the middle among the crops. Whereas in the Netherlands the footpaths are generally kept separate from the fields, such as on cycle paths with fences each side, quiet roads, on top of dykes or through areas set aside for nature.

On reaching the top end of Halsteren I caught a bus into Bergen op Zoom, where there was more accommodation, thankful that Google could tell me which bus to catch, where it went from and when it would arrive. There was not as much hotel availability as I thought, the places I had previously looked at were fully booked. Bed & Breakfast prices also seemed similar to those in hotels, i.e. more expensive than I would prefer.

I have now settled into a hotel. Tomorrow I will return to Halsteren and complete the section of the LAW 5-1 from there to Bergen. As it includes a fort I am looking forward to it.