When I write this, half the world is in lockdown because of the corona virus and I decided to use this time of social distancing for a little food-experiment: a 7-day water fast. This means, last week, I didn’t eat anything for a week and only drank water (and some tea without sugar). I have been … Continue Reading
TREK REPORT 6-8 Sep. 2019 I did some hiking, wild camping and bushcraft with Leon Reteig in the French Ardennes near Fumay. Total distance: 21 km. Our route (including campsites) on Google Maps Other weekend treks in the French Ardennes Weekend trek in the French Ardennes (2014) Navigating the French Ardennes (2011) Warning Trek Reports … Continue Reading
TREK REPORT I did some ski touring 2-8 March 2019 in the French Alps with my friend Jasper de Vries, local mountain guide Murray Hamilton and four Dutchies from toerskien.org. After a day of off-piste skiing in Puy Saint Vincent and a practice tour in Crévoux, we did a 4 day hut-to-hut tour in Vallée … Continue Reading
TREK REPORT 26 July – 1 Aug. 2018, I went canoeing in south Sweden with Leon Reteig, Lynn Sörensen and Alessio Sclocco. We started and finished at Tyngsjö Vildmark, a campsite and canoe rental place run by a friendly Dutch couple, about 300 km northwest of Stockholm. In 6 days we did a 71 km trek (43 … Continue Reading
Only a 20-minute drive South of Amsterdam is the popular nature and watersports area the Vinkeveense Plassen. I went kayaking there a few times over the years with friends. We rented kayaks at Vinkeveen Haven (about €20 for 4 hours per kayak). They also have the convenient free map “Vinkeveense Plassen Recreatie- en Plassenkaart”. Here … Continue Reading
TREK REPORT 7-17 Feb. 2018, I went skiing with Ottoline in Queyras, in the French Alps. We started with two days of warm-up skiing in Abriès and Molines-en-Queyras. Then we had two days of off-piste training with a Dutch group from toerskien.org and the local mountain guide Murray Hamilton. We finished with four days of … Continue Reading
TREK REPORT Who said a vacation in rain, wind and cold can’t be fun? Just returned from a 6-day trek (28 July – 2 Aug. 2017) on the Hardangervidda in Norway with my friends Rob Hofman, Jeroen Keultjes and Willem Hofman. It’s the country’s largest national park and located on an 1100 m high plateau, … Continue Reading
Tonight I was a guest at my friend Mark Fonseca Rendeiro’s Realities Podcast to talk about bushcraft. It was live streamed on Facebook (length: 53 minutes). Co-host was Aamna Chaudhry. Audio is ok from 1:36. … Continue Reading
TREK REPORT 17-26 Feb. 2017, I was in Kühtai, Austria. There I did a 1-week introductory course in ski touring and backcountry skiing through the Dutch website toerskien.org. Led by the experienced Austrian guide Karl Dung, our group of seven Dutchies did three tours in the area and spent the other days in the Kühtai ski … Continue Reading
Last month I made a mousetrap to catch mice alive. It’s a figure-4 trap using a wooden box with a lid with air holes. (I learned this type of trap on my first survival course in 2001). And here’s a little video of me demonstrating the trap in my apartment. The only problem is that … Continue Reading
