I've had my mobility scooter (called a "scootmobiel" in Dutch, sorta like the "Pope-mobile") for over a year now, so I suppose it's a good time for another update
We do "walks" around the lake on a fairly regular basis - once a week if I'm up to it. We take old bread to feed the swans, who decided to have six baby swans this year
So we get mobbed by them when we approach, but at least they stay in the water. They still make the baby "cheep" sounds when they want food, even though they're nearly as big as their parents now.
Keeping the tires clean can be a bit of an issue at times. Someone had broken a glass on the bike path, which I didn't see in time, so Mr Valentijn spent a few minutes picking glass out of my tires. They did stay inflated though! Also there was a bit of an issue when a flock of Canadian Geese stopped by the lake for a couple days and left their usual calling card
But other than that, things have been great. We went to a nice island nearby for a long weekend, and I was able to go through the dunes again, and along a ton of different paved, unpaved, and steep paths. We found a new route that goes along the dune looking over the ocean, and that was hella fun.
I was also able to drive it up and over a huge dune which leads to an estuary and then the beach. The terrain was really rough, since I couldn't go through the parts of the path with loose dry sand, and Mr Valentijn scouted ahead in the paths through the grass to find a way through which wasn't blocked by waterways.
Eventually we made it to the edge of the lagoon beach, and found a spot where there was a very short transition from the grass to the hard-packed sand, with little of the dry loose sand in between. Once I was on the damp sand, I was able to cruise all the way around the little lagoon thing, and even get a peek at the ocean, though there was way too much dry loose sand for me to walk to the ocean from there.
After that we went to a little restaurant in a village called "Cocksdorp" (hurhur
), and ate lunch on a back patio that looked over a huge stretch of beautiful marshland. Then we got back to the hotel, where I was feeling pretty wiped out, but it was taking a bath that pushed me over the edge into crash-land
There were kilometers of dirt paths near the hotel, winding through the woods there, and we went out there several times. At the end of one path there's a view spot behind a wooden barrier to look out at the birds in a sanctuary. I even spotted a somewhat rare spoonbill running back and forth with it's bill in the stream to catch fish and such - looks a bit like a small T-rex when running with its head swinging back and forth
After we got back home, we started venturing into the huge city park nearby a bit more. There are paths forbidden to bicycles, and with barriers, but I can circumvent them pretty well - not something I'd want to try with a 3-wheeler, since things can get pretty tippy even with 4 wheels
Anyhow, we found a reconstruction of an ancient farm, with all sorts of cool gardens nearby, and even some cute little goats and such. Also huge empty pastures surrounded by trees, streams (with bridges!), etc. It's like there's a whole secret little world hidden there - surrounded on all sides by roads and heavily used bike paths, but peaceful and quiet once you're inside.
I stayed with my in-laws on Wednesday while Mr Valentijn was at work nearby, and took my mobility scooter for that. So I was able to go to the grocery story with Mr Valentijn's mother, and "walk" around the village for a while. Not stuff we can usually do while I'm there, so it was fun to be able to get out with her and meet some of the people she knows, etc.
I also might be taking the scooter with me to Seattle in a few weeks. I just need to call the airline to see if it's still possible. Due to the way the charger is set up, we just need a really cheap part of the cord once we get to the US, which will then plug into the rest of the charger.
