I just had a week's holiday on the island of Texel. It is a bit of a risk to go there in the middle of October, but it can be very beautiful too. You can be stuck in your hotel or apartment for the whole week because of the weather, or you can see the most beautiful sights.
Well, I was lucky this time, and for most of the week I got the beautiful sights. Rain was predicted for the weekend, but I only got a few drops once in a while. I spent most of the week cycling round the island, and I'm quite happy I didn't get stuck in my apartment. I rented a place through the internet, I didn't know it beforehand, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Well, it was tiny, a converted attic, consisting of a bed-sitting room and a kitchen. It looked like it had been decorated quite some time ago, and not all aspects had been given enough attention. I was right under the roof, so I could only stand up straight in the middle of the room. I only banged my head a couple of times in a week, so that wasn't too bad. Anyway, the fridge was built into a cupboard, but it opened towards the middle of the attic, so to get into the fridge you needed to be a contortionist. But the apartment had all I needed, there was room to cook, a very good bed, a television set to keep me happy in the evenings. What more does a woman need? Don't answer that one, I had it....
I took my own bike this time, nicely parked in the bicycle shed at night, so it was quite easy to get around. My apartment was just outside Oosterend, in the middle of the island, so all other places were easy to reach. I love the northern part of Texel, the Schorren on the eastern side, the dunes to the very north, and the Slufter on the western side. Whenever I stay up in De Cocksdorp I tend to stay on that side of the island, but from Oosterend it is just as easy to reach the Mokbaai and Paal 9 to the south.
Oosterend is a very nice village, and I've wanted to come and stay here for a while. It is fairly small, not too many shops or restaurants, but with quite an old town centre. There aren't as many tourists here as there are on other parts of the island, which I also like. This was the week of the German autumn break, so there were a lot of Germans everywhere, and at times it was hard to hear Dutch rather than German spoken.
I hadn't been here for a while, but found that not much has changed really. Up in De Cocksdorp I had dinner at De Rog, a small café I've eaten on most of my visits to the island. It used to be more of a pub, now it is more of a restaurant. When I first had dinner there I was a little desperate, arriving in the north at around 8.30in the evening after a long cycle ride against the wind coming straight of the boat. There was no room at any of the other restaurants, or rather they were about to close, and at De Rog they didn't mind making me something to eat at that time of night. I make a point of going back whenever I'm here, and they now have a good variety of food, including vegetarian, very friendly service, and they are reasonably priced. This sounds like an advert, but it is nice to still have places like this, that are good and offer quality and do not become a victim of their own success.
Anyway, I spent a fair amount of time cycling round the edges of the island, and I got to visit the Schorren a few times. That always is a great site for watching waders, just like the Slufter. I walked in De Muy and de Geul, and along the beach near Paal 9. I saw some great Jellyfish there, which had just ended up on the beach with the rising tide. On the whole the weather was pretty good, and I got to see some lovely skies. There was a lot of cloud cover, with many different types of clouds, moving very fast because of the strong winds.
On Friday there was a small storm, and the wind was too strong for cycling, so I just went for a walk. Even that was hard going at times, walking against the wind. Once you had the wind in your back you could move at cycling speed. There is a small walking tour just outside Oosterend, starting from about 50 metres from where I was staying, so I did that tour. It was nice to be literally blown away.
Then it was time to head home again, to put the bike on a train, and in this case aboard a bus too, and to go back to the city. But that is another story.
