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Close to the sea.
These will lead the way.
Road to the Veerdam
You could run into a cow or two.
This is a quiet corner of the island with the statue of the grey monk, after which the island is named, stands.
Schiermonnikoog is composed from "schiere monnik oog ".
Which can be translated to: grey monk island, refering to the grey habits the monks wore. "Oog" means as much as island.
The monks lived on the island during the Middle Ages.
There is a part of Schiermonnikoog's beach that is huge. Especially with low tide. And it can take you quite a while just to reach the sea.. So the one that is back with wet feet first wins..:-)
In teh picture you can't even see the sea.. but it is there at the end of the beach..
The surrounding of the lighthouse is typical for the part of the island: dunes, overgrown with long grass and the occassional shrub and small tree. The lighthouse is located close to the village, so there are still quite a few houses scattered around. Of course the landscape wouldn't be complete without a winding bicycle path to make it possible to explore the area. And as everywhere else on the island: somewhere in the distance you can see the sea :-)
It was in this wooded area that I almost bicycled over a pheasant. Luckily (for me and probably for the pheasant as well, lol) the pheasant quickly made room on the bicycle path for me to pass by. I couldn't let this opportunity slip by though to make a brake for it and make a quick photo.
The island is home to many birds and it is not surprising that the island has been declared a National Park in 1989. Although it has a National Park status, most of the park is open to the public all year round. There is one area though, east of the "Prins Bernhardweg" (= a name of a road) and north and east of the "Kooiweg", that is closed from the 15th of April to the 15th of July because thousands of birds come to this area to breed. This protected area is clearly marked by signs.
On some parts of the island you can still see the "living dunes". Charactaristic for this landscape that it is always changing. Sand is gathering blown together by the wind, creating new little dunes, or increasing already existing ones. On other places holes are created because the wind hollows out this area by blowing away the sand. It's fascinating to see landscape being created in this way and knowing on a next visit it will all look different again.
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