Wadlopen (Mudflat hiking) in the Wadden Sea, Netherlands

Wadlopers

Wadlopen is something I wanted to do ever since I arrived in the Netherlands. This beautiful northern European country, lacks the wilderness and the feeling of being in the nature that other countries like Sweden and Greece offer. But still wadlopen is something unique and I felt it is one of the most wonderful activities in  nature one can do in this country.

So what is wadlopen? As the English translation implies, it is walking in the mud! Yes, thick, watery, black mud. Sometimes you get to walk inside sea water but most of the route is on mud. And this occurs because when the tide is low between the Dutch mainland and the Wadden sea islands, paths form where actually one can walk. Not all islands can be reachable by walking, either because they are too far and in the duration of a single tide it is not possible or because the tide does not create those paths. The waters in the Wadden sea (that is the sea between mainland Netherlands and the islands) in low tide retracts up to 2 meters.

Follow your guide! Step where he steps..

We had decided to walk to the island of Ameland, the fourth of the West Frisian islands. There are many different option to choose from (either walk to another island or simply walk around returning to the same starting point). The tour started on the same pier where ferry boats leave for the islands, near Holwerd. It was kind of a surprise to see boats going even in low tide. Apparently they follow a designated path which takes them only through deep waters. Anyway, having done some research before booking a tour, I found that there are many groups organizing wadlopen and I decided to go with fryske waedrinners simply because the guy was fastest to response to my email! Yet, the organizer was very helpful and polite. The price is around 25 euros and includes the ferry return ticket.

mud!

The walk to Ameland is almost 13km and takes around 3:30 hours. Depending on the tide, tours can start anywhere from 6:00am to 17:00pm. So each date there is a different tour. We got to start at 9:00am with light rain which was still ok. Our tour took us through mud, water, shells and of course on dry sea bed. Most difficult of all those kinds of terrains admittedly is mud. And because it did not yet have a chance to fully dry, we would get deep into it. To my surprise water was easier to walk in. At one point we got water above waist level and had to walk a few hundred meters in it. And it was not as cold as it might sound. The feeling walking on thousands of shells is also strange. One wrong step and falling on them results in bad injuries.

Walking in water

Arriving in the island of Ameland after 3:30 hours of trekking in the kind of terrain described above and feels kind of rewarding to have made it! Yet, upon hitting the beach, there is a 20min walk (on dry land!) to the facilities where we could wash and change our clothes. We had arranged bicycles to wait for us which we used to wander on the island until the last ferry.

Reflections

The whole walk is not extremely difficult but one needs to be quite fit and be accustomed with water. Swimming is not required (otherwise it would be called Mudflat hikingswimming :-)) but you must not be afraid of it. According to Dutch law no one is allowed to wander around in the Wadden sea and must always be accompanied by a guide holding a special license.