A condensed summary of my progress along the Pieterpad in 2018.

The numbers refer to the stages in the current version of the Pieterpad guide, Parts I and II. The distances are the "official" stage distances in the Guide - in places these differ a little bit from those of the GPS route and/or those given on the Pieterpad website, probably mostly due to rounding errors.

I generally stuck to the stage-points suggested in the Guide for my day-walks, except where there were very short stages:

  • I combined stages 1 and 2, walking from Pieterburen to Groningen in one day (total 31km, but it saved doing the long journey to Winsum two extra times)
  • I combined stages 12 and 13, walking from Holten to Vorden in one day (total 28km)
  • I reduced the four unequal stages between Groesbeek and Venlo (stages 18-21) to three days of about 24km each by shifting the stage-points to Afferden and Meerlo, which turn out to be quite convenient points for buses.

The week of 10-16 June was when I came closest to "proper" long-distance walking, hitting the trail on six days out of seven, and covering about 25% of the route. I was enjoying it, otherwise I wouldn't be doing this!

Between 24/6 and 30/6 I was on a pre-planned walking holiday in Germany, so I had to take a break from the Pieterpad with only five stages to go.

I completed the 13 stages of Part I (238 km, 48% of the route) on 6/6/18. 

I completed Part II on 10/7/18, 66 days after starting Part I.

I spent 23 days walking in all, averaging about 22km of the official route per walking day (plus a few extra km I didn't count here and there to link to public transport and to get back to Maastricht at the end of the final stage). 

 

Guide Part Stage No. From To Guide length/km Date last walked Notes
I 1 Pieterburen Winsum 12 05/05/18 1 and 2 combined
I 2 Winsum Groningen 19 05/05/18 1 and 2 combined
I 3 Groningen Zuidlaren 21 09/05/18  
I 4 Zuidlaren Rolde 18 18/05/18 to Assen (=+6km)
I 5 Rolde Schoonloo 18 21/05/18  
I 6 Schoonloo Sleen 24 23/05/18  
I 7 Sleen Coevorden 21 27/05/18  
I 8 Coevorden Hardenberg 19 26/05/18 out of seq. because of a bus strike
I 9 Hardenberg Ommen 21 02/06/18   
I 10 Ommen Hellendoorn 21 03/06/18   to Nijverdal (=+2km)
I 11 Hellendoorn Holten 16 08/04/18 out of sequence - "prologue"
I 12 Holten Laren 15

06/06/18 

 12 & 13 together
I 13 Laren Vorden 13 06/06/18    12 & 13 together
II 1 Vorden Zelhem 17 10/06/18   
II 2 Zelhem Braamt 18 11/06/18   
II 3 Braamt Millingen 24 12/06/18   
II 4 Millingen Groesbeek 20 13/06/18  
II 5 Groesbeek Gennep 14 15/06/18   
II 6 Gennep Vierlingsbeek 19 15 & 16/06/18   split at Afferden ferry
II 7 Vierlingsbeek Swolgen 22 16 & 22/06/18   split at Meerlo
II 8 Swolgen Venlo 21 22/06/18   
II 9 Venlo Swalmen 23 02/07/18 (also walked previously on 23/04/17)
II 10 Swalmen Montfort 21 05/07/18   
II 11 Montfort Sittard 24  06/07/18  
II 12 Sittard Strabeek 22 09/07/18   
II 13 Strabeek St Pietersberg 17  10/07/18  loop back to Maastricht via Kanne (BE)