Day 1: Prologue

After a few hours of travel from Haarlem to Pieterburen, I walked the “Prologue” section of the Pieterpad. The day started out rainy, as I finished packing for the trail. During a brief lull in the rain, I left my apartment, walking across Haarlem to the train station, and hoping the rain would cooperate for ten minutes or so. It didn’t, and I got annoyingly wet halfway there. Fortunately; I had my pack rain cover on, so my pack stayed dry, even if I didn’t. From Haarlem, it took four trains and a bus to get to Pieterburen, the start of the trail, about three and a half hours of travel in total. Everything was running right on time, which was good, because I only had a few minutes for each transfer. There was basically no waiting around, and little margin for error. Along the way, the rain gradually cleared, and once I was on the bus to Pieterburen, the sun even came out a little. The bus stop in Pieterburen was almost right at the start of the trail, not even a hundred meters away.…