First freezing night last night and a sure sign the winter is fast approaching. This picture is of the seat of my Omafiets this morning.
Some of our family and friends have told us to hope for a cold winter and nice freeze on all the canals and ponds......so we can go ice skating! Although I haven't been ice skating in at least 20 years, never knew how to stop then and probably won't figure it out this winter, the thought of ice skating on one or more of the many canals and ponds here has gotten me pretty excited. How much more Dutch of a sport can you get? Apparently, the International Skating Union was founded here in 1890.
If the canals freeze enough and the weather stays cold enough we can hope for the Elfstedentocht to take place. It is a 200km skating race/tour on the canals of Friesland in Northern Holland. I doubt I will be interested in 124 miles of ice skating but if it gets cold enough for the event to happen it will be cold enough here in Scheveningen for me to get the skates on and go. I hope it gets cold, real cold!
Check out the video of the 1997 finish. 1997 was that last time the event was officially held. Before you accuse global warming take a look at the official website to see that there have been many years it wasn't held. The two main reasons for it not being held have been war and ice that hasn't been thick enough. If the ice isn't at least 15cm thick the event won't take place.
Let's hope for some cold and some thick ice!
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