Ice Cold Fever
Internally cursing, I stood next tot the Schermer Ringvaart. I should have known better, as I had no problem at all parking my car this close to the waterway. Apparently, I needed a more obvious sign: the ice cold feeling of breaking through the slushy ice with my left foot. Ok, so no iceskating yet on the Eilandspolder, traditionally the first spot in the neighbourhood to skate. This had snowy ice pudding written all over it.
With my skates sharp as a knife I had no intention going home just yet. Images on Instagram showing smiley faces and pure black ice got me all FOMO’d up. I called Rens Muller from Bicycling Magazine and found myself one hour later near Loosdrecht, my foot still tingling from the heater in my van.
Photo by Vincent Riemersma for Proskating magazine
When I arrived, I saw about thirty ice skaters enjoying the black plate of the small lake, called the Vuntus. This was heaven. About one hour of pure joy later, I met this guy Martijn. He told me he had checked in in a hotel facing this lake and had been watching the ice grow for the last three days. He had mapped the exact route in between the openings in the ice made by ducks or the wind. The Vuntus was a done deal now and would soon be too crowded. If I was interested in testing out the bigger lake next to it? Excited I followed him and soon there was nothing more than the amazing sound of singing ice and the scratching of the skates. I honestly can’t think of anything more beautiful. The ice fever had gotten me hard. I returned home tired, happy as a kid. My wife immediately knew, that she was not going to see me again until thaw was happening.
Photo by Jelle Mul
Photo by Jelle Mul
This first day on the ice was the beginning of an five day extravaganza. Every morning at 6.00 am I checked the temperature, sharpened the skates and after two cups of coffee I got into my car, heading for new adventures. Sometimes those adventures needed extra shoes for walking and extra clothes in a dry bag, but, man, it was fantastic. I skated every day like it was the last day. Blisters, sore muscles and bags under my eye the size of eggs couldn’t stop me. On Sunday, I crawled out of my bed in skating position (any other would hurt too much), did a last nice tour with friends and finished this week in style: on the ice with my kids in front of our house, with windmills and everything. Does it get more Dutch?
The next morning I woke up from my fever while the drizzling rain melted the ice.
