IMAGES Texel Trip

Back in June I went on a day trip to the island of Texel (said “Tessel”) with my photography club.  This is something I was really looking forward to as I’d not been to any of the Dutch islands in all the time I’ve been living here.  It was a bit of a long way to go for a day trip but it was so worth it, I loved the scenery and catching up with some of my photo club friends.

Texel is one of the islands in the far north of the country.  All of which I hope to visit at some point, so this made a good start!  The trip was really well organized by one of our club members, so we all met at the ferry in Den Helder (bottom left of the photo) and got the ferry to Texel, where a half open bus was waiting for us to show us around the island.

It was a very windy day, and we had some rain, but we didn’t let that stop us!  Some of us were even stubborn enough to spend the entire day in the open part of the bus.

These girls from the club came well prepared with scarves and rain jackets!  Unlike me, who showed up with a summer jacket and a hoodie, neither of which had a hood that would stay up!

I know, I look incredibly stylish, don’t I?  This was just after I’d climbed to the top of a lighthouse (that I will show later) and it was windier than hell up there.  Thankfully I brought lots of stuff to keep my hair out of my face, not that the wind really allowed it to stay under control at all!

Who cares! I climbed a lighthouse and didn’t die!

First we visited the small village of Den Hoorn where we had about an hour to walk around.  It rained most of the time so the photos were a bit limited.

I really wish I could have gone into that house to see the artwork inside.  I really wondered how they were able to leave all those paintings out in the elements without them getting faded or damaged…

After Den Hoorn we boarded the bus again and headed over to De Slufter, which is a national park and nature reserve.

There was a guided tour, but people were also free to roam and take photos themselves, so I chose the latter.  I was glad in the end as when it started raining really badly I legged it for the bus, and those who did the tour were out in it for a lot longer!

After sitting in the bus warming up, the crowd came back and we shuffled back to our spot in the back open area.  It was getting a little cold at this point because we were all pretty wet, so we were happy to hear that it was time to head to the beach for lunch!  I jokingly said to the friends I was sitting with that the minute we are actually indoors the sun would come out… and I was right!

Even though the sun was out it was still really windy, but the wind surfers and kite surfers were in heaven!  We didn’t stay long at that beach as we still had other places to visit, but I did manage to snap this photo of one happy and tired kite surfer on his way out of the water.

Next we headed to the big beach with the lighthouse, which was my favorite part of the entire day!  What a lovely spot that was!

That’s the lighthouse I climbed!  Yeah, I know it looks small, but it’s not!

See, it’s huge!! Big and tall… and tall, and high!

Believe me now?  I climbed it…

Ok I have a confession, it was kind of easy.  It wasn’t just one long flight of stairs but a few smaller ones with rooms you could stop in in between.  Each of those windows was a level where you could stop and catch your breath, which worked great for me.

It was really worth the climb though, what a view!

From up here you all look like tiny little aaaants!! (Name that movie!)

All I could think of was how much I’d love to pitch a tent in that grass and live there all summer.  Then I was told that you aren’t allowed to swim there because of the currents, and I was over it.

After climbing down the lighthouse we all hung out on the beach for a bit, I spent some of my time taking photos of my friends, who welcomed a beautiful baby boy into their lives just a few weeks later!

From the beach we went to a little fishing harbour where I tried my first taste of Kibbeling, which is basically just fried fish. It was yummy!  I didn’t take too many photos there as I was a little tired, but this one guy did catch my eye!

Oh what a life! Stretched out on the deck of his ship having a nap, completely oblivious to all the tourists standing around taking his photo.  I can think of worse ways to spend the afternoon!

So that’s it… that was my first trip to Texel, and what a fun day.  Even though the weather was crappy at times, the company was great and it felt good to be out in the fresh air seeing somewhere I haven’t been before.

If you ever get the chance to visit Texel, go for it! It’s not a very big island and you can cover a lot of ground in a day!  I hear there’s really great camping there too!