Ice skating in the Netherlands

Friday 3 February 2012
A trip on my own... Snow in the Netherlands resulted in a cancelled afternoon flight from Dublin to Amsterdam. Thank God I could reschedule to a later flight and after a long delay - great company, a nice pint of Guinness and a good book made this delay bearable - I made it to Schiphol airport where dad, who had braved icy roads, was waiting for me and took me to my home away from home: Bodegraven. Temperatures dropped to -18 degrees Celsius overnight and when sleeping, the mist was getting thicker.
Waking up the next morning, this is what I saw from my bedroom window:
All excited, I quickly got dressed and ran out of the house with my camera to capture the most fairytale like winter scape I had ever seen...


Impressed by the gorgeous snow and ice crystals that had grown on literally everything - and the serenity of the crisp early Saturday morning, breakfast tasted wonderfully well. After that, it was just a matter of getting the backpack ready with ice skates etc. and I made my way to the outskirts of Bodegraven to explore the ice conditions.






A layer of snow made it difficult to view what the ice was like; but in general; a thick black ice floor covered the canal and I it was truly magnificent to skate under these fantastic conditions. I captured the following when making my way to a small community called 'Tempel' in the Dutch countryside.




My parents enjoyed a walk across the frozen ditches and meadows while I was skating - it was one of those days that you will just never forget!

I wasn't in the Netherlands just to enjoy the winter weather. The main goal was to see my family and in particular to see my new niece Jade Amélie for the first time.

Before travelling back to Dublin on Sunday afternoon, I decided to have another go on the ice early Sunday morning. Here are just a few pictures of the 'Meije', a rural area not too far south of Amsterdam:












With a big smile, I got on the plane back to Dublin. This was something I hadn't done in years and it's like cycling... once you learn it, you won't forget!
A lovely blister at the back of my ankle is the only physical leftover of last weekend ice skating - after all it isn't something you do every day. I was craving a lovely sleep after all this exercise, but before I dozed off in my comfy seat by the window, I got a beautiful view of snowy Holland from above: