I was hopeful that Day 2 of this Floris V Pad hike would be a bit nicer than Day 1. The Hubby and I had already decided that I would skip hiking through the Kilt Tunnel (full of construction noise) and start on the opposite side of the river.

The Hubby was going to be my chase car for the day as he didn’t want to go all the way back into Dordrecht. So he quickly dropped me at my start point started programing my end point into the gps. I started my hike.

This part of the Floris V the top of the large dike that follows along the river giving hikers a wonderful view of both the river and the landscape.

The universe had other plans for me! As I reached the gate at the top of the dike the largest angriest Doberman dog came at me barking and hitting the fence and gate from the other side (the side where the trail clearly was marked). I backed off and saw a lady who tried (unsuccessfully) to call her dog.

Something about looking at angry teeth and the fact the dog didn’t seem to be listening was disturbing. I just waited and finally after several minutes the dog owner approached but she didn’t get control of her dog. Instead she asked me if I really needed to be here!

I calmly explained I was hiking the Floris V Pad and that it was clearly marked. I would wait for her to control her dog. In the mean time the Hubby slowly went by me in our van heading towards our link up point, the dog started running after our vehicle and was just as angry. All the while the dog owner tried to get me to walk somewhere else.

With no other options available and clearly this dog owner was not backing down or controlling her dog. I altered my route to the side pavement below the dike. To say I was a bit pissed at the way the day started would be a huge understatement! I considered ways the universe could take both her and her dog off the face of the planet!

After a few kilometers I was able to climb some steps back to the top of the dike. I checked to make sure that the woman and her dog were not in sight and continued towards the village of De Wacht. Viewing the river traffic as I went.

At the village I descend concrete stairs into the village. Passed by a couple of cute small gardens and then headed out into the farmland landscape. Flat landscape.

The heat was starting to build and the pavement was getting hot. A hiker with a history of heat exhaustion, I was already checking out the map and scanning the area for trees or any sort of shade.

When I emerged from my stop in the shade I started thinking I was seeing things as a van that looked like ours crossed the road I was hiking, too far away, I couldn’t be sure it was our vehicle.

As I got closer to the intersection a nice grouping of trees provided so shade. Once again I saw one of these…

I started thinking maybe I should invest in a container full of these mailboxes as they seem to be suddenly popular with the Dutch.

I texted the Hubby my location and asked if he had passed by me. The answer… he couldn’t open my Apple product map so he had no idea where I was. He texted me his location and I told him I was close and getting ready to start the last part of the trail.

After several more messages and a van zipping past me, me waving, jumping up and down, van continuing off into the flat landscape, turning and then a text that he couldn’t find me, he would meet me at the end point.

I continued on, smiling to myself that I have a wonderful partner even though he sometimes doesn’t “see” me waving my arms and jumping around like a fool in the middle of no where farm land.

Now as I got closer to my end point and walked through the dust being kicked up from several tractors working in the dry fields. I was ready to put this part of the Floris V Pad behind me! Not much to see or talk about on this section.

This cute village was the highlight of my hike.

Hiking off the overview and into the village it was filled with small houses with cute gardens. I came up to a bridge and had a lock for boats.

The Hubby was waiting with a story to tell. Construction, wrong turns, not seeing me, and a gps that had inadvertently put him in the middle of farmland that was blocked by tractors! He had a rough time being my chase car for the day. But, like all good partners that get sucked into our passionate adventures he deserves my heartfelt gratitude. After 15 years together we have had many such adventures and he still is volunteering to help.

I just hope the next section I hike of the Floris V will be less of a challenge for the chase car.😊

This 2nd day of hiking was 9 km. 18km closer to my destination at Bergen op Zoom.

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