2024-11-01 53 5

Location

In Leeuwarden city center

Participants

MyrtleGlacy

Expedition

I’d been watching this graticule for 8 months. When I started hashing, it was clear that Friesland would be a fun one, because most of the hash is water, and the rest is mostly farmland and very small towns. So either I would have to get lucky and find a reachable hash AND and car or I would have to get lucky for the hash to fall in one of the cities reachable by train.

When I checked the hashes for November 1st, everything aligned perfectly. It was a day off for me, I had free train travel and the hash was in Leeuwarden city center, on a sidewalk. Perfect. Worst part is, the train to and from was at least 3 hours, not counting any possible delays. I left home and got to the train station without any hassle. My train left at 9:03, perfectly on time. The first part was easy enough. Tilburg to Zwolle. About 2 hours of sitting still, listening to podcasts or reading my book. After two hours of sitting still, we had had some delays so my train would be arriving at Zwolle 5 minutes late…..which meant that I had to run to the next train not to miss my connection. A fun thing to do after 2 hours of barely any movement.

The next train was not that bad. It was obvious that we were leaving the part of the inhabited Netherlands and entering Friesland. A lot more farmland, a lot fewer houses. I got up twice, thinking this was finally Leeuwarden, but no, I still had to wait.

12:13, I finally reached Leeuwarden. I got out and stretched my legs. The hash was close, about a 15 minute walk from the train station. One thing that always strikes me when I’m in Friesland is that there’s most space around the train stations than usual in the Netherlands. Most cities have had train stations for a long time, so houses and shops were built around them. In Friesland, they were usually built outside the city, and still have a lot of empty space and room around them.

Walking through Leeuwarden, I found out that it was a market day. So I took the time buy some fun Frisian cheeses. I bought one that had a lavender taste to it, which I though was pretty funky. Sauntering towards the hash, I walked through a small alley above which a fake whale skeleton had been placed. The canals and streets in the city center are all pretty and old, so it was fun to walk along them. The hash itself was not that exciting, it was on the pavement in front of an apothecary.

After the hash, I had lunch and walked around the city for a bit. I’ll include some pictures I though were cool. Finally, I left Leeuwarden at about 16:00, and got back to Tilburg around 19:30. All in all a long day with a lot of train travel, and very nice to finally be able to grab a hash in Frisia.