The Loonse and Drunense Duinen is my husband's favourite place. His dad took him and his brother to the dunes when he was a child and he has plenty of fond memories from that time that he likes to talk about. We came to this place together a few times, and now I understand why he likes it so much.
It's a national park situated in the province of North Brabant close to the cities of Tilburg and Waalwijk. It's about 30 minutes drive from his family place, and we come here from time to time when we are in The Netherlands.
There is a large parking space close to the dunes, so we come by car as it's convenient for us and frankly, we don't have bikes in The Netherlands otherwise we would bike here. It's flat and if you have wind in your direction you can get here faster by bike than by car.
There is also a restaurant next to the parking serving local beers and snacks including vegan bitter balls and apple tart, so we usually stop here before we head back home.
The walk from the parking starts in the forest, but you can already see the sand. It is only a short walk to the dunes, so let's go!
The Loonse and Drunense Duinen are also known as Sahara of The Netherlands as it's a huge mass of sand in middle of the country. There is no sea close to the dunes which makes it a rare natural wonder. The dunes are more than 10 000 years old! How amazing is that!
We usually visit the dunes in the evening as it can get very hot and there is not that much shade. Also be ready to get sweaty as it's not so easy to walk there. It requires stamina and don't forget to put on good hiking shoes. This is not a beach walk 馃檪
At some places it looks deserted, but there are many animals and birds living here...
Doesn't it look idyllic?
Last time, we came here with my father-in-law who is 83 years old and he managed to walk faster than me. This must be because of his experience and definitely not because of my stamina 馃檪
I wanted to take off my shoes as I was getting hot, but the sand was burning and there were many pine needles from the trees, so I didn't want to hurt myself and rather left my shoes on.
Some places remind me of Western movies - not because of the sand, but because of those rare dry tree formations.
This reminded me of Dutch beaches as they are covered with grass too.
These are indeed my father-in-laws steps! I told you he was fast.
I don't know how these waves are created, but I refused to walk through them not to damage them as I liked them so much.
Apparently, there are some other sorts of transport here than by foot only.
The bird had a lot of patience with me. I'm not good at animal photography and they usually fly away before I have a chance to take a photo, but this one stayed for a while.
We didn't come across anyone and this is exactly how we like it 馃檪 I can imagine that there are quite a few people earlier in the day as it's one of the most touristic places in the region.
See you next time...