For those outdoor enthusiasts who consider hiking the mud flats of the Wadden Sea, it is essential to know that this is not just a worldly journey but a spiritual one. The entire Frisian Coast is, in a way, a spiritual belt, protecting the southern coast of the North Sea against northern darkness, according to medieval sources. In October 1143, the bishop of Utrecht, Hartbert of Bierum (originating from Bierumen, a medieval ribbon settlement on the coast near modern Sexbierum), expressed his amazement that so many relics of saints, apostles, martyrs, and virgins were being kept at these outer rims of the world. Therefore, before considering walking over the seabed from the coast to one of the Wadden Sea islands, read this post in order to have the real spiritual experience.
A Spiritual Outer Rim
The Book of Exodus describes how the prophet Moses guides his people across the Red Sea after it is parted and the seabed is exposed. It seems like a unique experience, walking over a seafloor, but not for the Frisians. The Wadden Sea ebbs away twice a day, and people cross the seabed all the way to the islands on a daily basis. A spiritual experience, nevertheless. But there is much more.
It is as Bishop Hartbert rightly noted, the outer rim of (former) Frisia is packed with religious sites. For starters, the dunes and adjacent geests (i.e. sandy soils), in what is today the provinces of Zuid Holland and Noord Holland, are rich in holy places and shrines that can be traced back to the earliest Anglo-Saxon missionaries arriving in this area at the end of the seventh century. Maybe it is an area of religious significance dating back to pagan times even.
The name of the village of Hargen in the province of Noord Holland (formerly West Frisia) derives from Old Germanic *harguz and is comparable to Old High German harug, Old Norwegian hǫrgr, and Old English hearg. It means something like 'pagan sanctuary' or 'idol'. Also, along the coast, in the province of Zuid Holland, the old name of the village of Kethel used to be Harga (Van Renswoude 2021). In the south-west of the province of Friesland the village of Harich exists.
And there is more along the coast of the province of Noord Holland. Think of the former artificial cone-shaped mound at the village of Oesdom near the present village of Heiloo. But also the toponym Schepelenberg near the small town of Heemskerk, and the toponym Sommeltjesberg near the village of Den Burg on the Wadden Sea island of Texel, were probably of religious significance too. All three mounds, likely dating to the Bronze Age, have been excavated. Proof again, by the way, that in the Netherlands people prefer to have everything as flat as possible. Lastly, the name Heiloo itself might refer to an old pagan sanctuary.
A bit more to the north, the Wadden Sea coastal zone is imbued with religious history as well. Today, nowhere in the world you can find as many high-medieval churches as in the part of former Frisia bordering the Wadden Sea coast. Stretching from the port town of Harlingen in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands, to the city of Wilhelmshaven in Landkreis Friesland in Germany. And then, on top of these Romanesque churches, once this area was dotted with many abbeys, monasteries and other religious houses as well. Most of these, however, have been demolished after the arrival of Protestantism in the sixteenth century. Sold for money.
For hikers it is instructive to know that in the provinces of Friesland and Groningen more and more churches are turned into refugios where pilgrims and hikers can stay the night for a small donation. Great initiative we think! Good for hikers, good for heritage conservation. Check the website Santiago aan het Wad. Camino der Lage Landen. The foundation that works on expanding the network of churches as refugios.
The north of the Netherlands, adjacent to the Wadden Sea, is also home to several pilgrimage trails. In the south-west of the province of Friesland the Saint Odulphus Path exists. Odulphus was a ninth-century, Frankish missionary who worked from the town of Stavoren. Stavoren itself, by the way, is an ancient place of heathen worship with temples and all, according to legend that is. Read our blog post Stavoren. A balancer on a slack rope of religion, trade, land, water, Holland and Frisia to find more about Saint Odulphus and Stavoren.
Then there is a journey of Abbot Emo who travelled in the beginning of the thirteenth century from the village of Wittewierum in the northeast of the province of Groningen to the city of Rome, and back again. Interesting detail, Abbot Emo was the first foreign scholar to study at the University of Oxford. Lastly, we mention the Pieterpad trail. This is a long-distance path named after Saint Peter, starting from the small village of Pieterburen in the upper north of the province of Groningen at the Wadden Sea coast, and runs to Mount Saint Peter in the province of Limburg. It is about 500 kilometers long.
Hiking the Mudflats
Entering the endless mudflats must be done with the greatest of care. This is an area which can be considered both sea as land, or, if you like, neither sea nor land. As said, twice a day the mudflats are exposed during low tide. The difference between low and high tide is about two metres. Imagine, an area as large as about 10,000 square metres is emptied and filled twice a day. If you cannot imagine it, trust us it is massive. It happens with great force.
Finding your way on the seabed through the gullies and creeks at low tide is impossible without thorough and up-to-date knowledge of the area. Maps and GPS are of limited use, and Moses is not their to help anymore. So, you do not want to wander out there alone. It will mean certain death. Even forbidden by law to go alone. Indeed, if you want to hike to one of the Wadden Sea islands, you must do so with an official agent. With a licensed guide. We are not promoting rules and regulations, but this one we support.
Hiking the Wadden Sea becomes ever more popular, so book far in advance. Licensed guides can be found all along the Wadden Sea coast between the town of Den Helder in the province of Noord Holland in the Netherlands to that of Esbjerg in the south of the region of Jutland in Denmark. Consult our post Walking the Sea to find some of their addresses.
One of the bastards of the Frisia Coast Trail hiked last summer (2020), in the month August, the Wadden Sea. The bastard walked to the island of Schiermonnikoog. His guide was Peter Rozema of Wadloopavonturen ('Wadden Sea Walking Adventures'), from the small village of Wehe-Den Horn in the northwest of the province of Groningen. As a licensed guide, you must be very experienced in walking in the area. Different regional government ordinances regulate the qualifications and examination of Wadden Sea guides. It means, among other, having crossed the seabed to the island of Schiermonnikoog tens of times, being able to find your way without GPS and map, purely on sight. Besides finding your way in an almost beaconless landscape, guides are trained in safety, in first aid, and in environmental aspects too.
The hike to the island of Schiermonnikoog is nicknamed Tocht der Tochten ‘hike of hikes’ since it is one of the longest walks of the Wadden Sea. The crossing is about twenty kilometres and you will be walking on the flats for about five to six hours. Along the way you must ford quite a number of gullies, several as deep as your chest. Six hours is almost exactly the time between low and high tide. This means you start at the break of dawn, and when it is still not fully low tide.
The critical part of the trip is to ford the final deep gully close to the island of Schiermonnikoog, when the flood has started for a while already, but the gully is just fordable still. If you arrive too late at this final deep gully, you cannot ford it because the flood is already too high and the current too strong. Then you are trapped, because turning back to the mainland is hopeless. It means a rescue team must be send out to save the group from drowning. In other words, being reasonably fit is a pre-condition to participate in this route. Moreover, it underscores a knowledgeable guide is not a luxury.
The Postman from Pellworm - Heinrich Liermann (1882-1974) from the island Pellworm, was postman for the Halligs: the salt-marsh islands of the Wadden Sea in the region of Nordfriesland in Germany. Delivering mail to the Halligs in the region of Nordfriesland was done by walking the seabed at low tide. In 1917, Liermann started with his job as postman and he did this for forty-six years. It has been calculated he walked about 100,000 kilometres for his job. In summer, he walked barefoot. In winter, in heavy waterproof clothing. It was during the Second World War that he rescued two Canadian air force pilots from drowning. So, a hero twice!
Divine Signs
So far, for the worldly aspects. Now let’s turn to the spiritual signs which are so obvious once they have pointed out to you.
The first sign. You start walking just north of the village of Kloosterburen, not far from the village of Pieterburen, as said the start of the Pieterpad hiking trail. Kloosterburen is translated as 'cloister neighbourhood’. Once, two Premonstratensian monasteries were located here. The oldest was founded in the second half of the twelfth century. It is, together with the monastery in Ter Apel, one of the last strongholds of Catholicism in the province of Groningen after the arrival of Protestantism. The Anglo-Saxon monk Saint Willibrord, who did a lot of work in spreading the Gospel in Frisia at the end of the seventh century, albeit with limited success, is being worshiped at the village of Kloosterburen to this day.
Furthermore, we must mention the Hermitage of Our Lady of Garden Closed in the hamlet of Warfhuizen. Also nearby the starting point of hike to the island of Schiermonnikoog. Really a fascinating place! Do visit it when you are in the hood. Wadden Sea guide Peter Rozema lives in the village of Wehe-Den Horn, also located in this same area. The part wehe stems from the morpheme wîha meaning 'holy place, idol' or 'altar'. The Old English language has a similar word, namely wēoh, which can also be found in the epic poem Beowulf for example. So, no coincidence but a clear sign too. Think also of the village of Wijhe in the province of Overijssel, and of Herwen in the province of Gelderland, even more to the south in the Netherlands. The latter, Herwen, is composed of harh-wiha meaning 'temple' or 'consecrated sanctuary' (Kerkhof 2022). At Herwen a unique, complete Roman temple complex has been found very recently (2022).
Yet another sign that gives away the spiritual significance of this hike, is the size of the group. The maximum size of a group that may wander with a guide on this route is twelve. That is no coincidence either. Twelve being the holy number of the Twelve Disciples of Christ. When Saint Willibrord crossed the North Sea to Frisia around the year 690, he was part of a group of twelve monks. The famous, fifth-century Voyage of Saint Brandon the Navigator, likewise. Saint Brandon too was part of a group of twelve monks who set out to sea to preach the Gospel in foreign, unknown and heathen lands. The oldest lighthouse of the Wadden Sea stands on the Wadden Sea island of Terschelling and is named after this saint, namely the Brandaris. The lighthouse dates to the end of the sixteenth century.
In other words, when you go out to sea to walk to the island of Schiermonnikoog, be mindful of the fact you resemble the Twelve Disciples being guided by their Teacher. A guide who will steer his followers through hazards and danger to the safety of dry land. Likes prohet Moses did before in the most ancient of times And we still have not said anything yet about the parallels of the guide's first name Peter with Peter the Disciple, and his last name Rozema, which corresponds with a Catholic rosary.
Enjoy your walk at and in the mire of the Wadden Sea. For sure it will be a beautiful, thrilling experience. One the world’s most unique day hikes! One that must be on your list.
Note 1 - On 11 November 2021, the gentle guide Peter Rozema passed away. Post-mortem we like to dedicate this post to him. The picture, with Peter walking on the seabed, explaining the trail, was already our cover and trademark, and received even more meaning now. In 2024, The Frisia Coast Trail gave permission to Merk Friesland to print the photo for promotion of the province. It can be viewed life-sized inside one of the local trains (named Zwarte Haan) in the north of the Netherlands.
Note 2 – For more pics of this hike over the sea, click this link.
Suggested hiking
Although the crossing to the island of Schiermonnikoog is called Tocht der Tochten, crossing to the island of Terschelling is also possible. This one is considered much tougher, and only allowed if you are in excellent condition. They will ask for it, and you must make reservation far in advance.
Further reading
Eijnatten, van J. & Lieburg, van F., Nederlandse religiegeschiedenis (2006)
Jacobs, A., Friese Vorsten (2020)
Kamphof, J., Wadlopen naar Schiermonnikoog: avontuur in het Waddengebied (2020)
Karstkarel, P., Alle middeleeuwse kerken. Van Harlingen tot Wilhelmshaven (2007)
Karstkarel, P., Alle middeleeuwse kerken. In Friesland (2010)
Lasance, A., Wizo van Vlaanderen. Itinerarium Fresiae of Een rondreis door de Lage Landen (2012)
Middag, I. & Schuttevaar, C., St. Odulphuspad. Wandel in de voetsporen van de heilige Sint Odulphus en ontdek al het moois van Zuidwest-Friesland! (2018)
Mol, J.A., Vechten, bidden en verplegen. Opstellen over de ridderorden in de Noordelijke Nederlanden (2011)
Moolenbroek, van J., Nederlandse Kruisvaarders naar Damiate aan de Nijl. Acht eeuwen geschiedenis en fantasie in woord en beeld (2016)
Nijdam, J.A., ‘De gemaskerde Wizo: vervalsing, mystificatie of pastiche?’. Bespreking van: Wizo van Vlaanderen, Itinerarium Fresiae (2012)
Nijmeijer, B., Noord-Nederland is een schatkamer van oude kerkjes, maar ze worden in hun voortbestaan bedreigd (2020)
Penning, Y., Emo’s Labyrint (2010)
Renswoude, van O., Hof, harg en hal: het heten van heiligdommen (2021)
Rozema, P., Wadloopavonturen (website)
Schroor, M. (ed.), De Bosatlas van De Wadden (2018)
Schuyf, J., Heidense heiligdommen. Zichtbare sporen in een verloren verleden (2019)
Steensen, T., Nordfriesland. Menschen von A-Z (2020)
Teetied & Rosinenbrot (podcast), Wattwandern an der Nordsee! Worauf achtest du? (2021)
Thiers, O., ’t Putje van Heiloo. Bedevaarten naar O.L. Vrouw ter Nood (2005)
Vries, O., Asega, is het dingtijd? De hoogtepunten van de Oudfriese tekstoverlevering (2007)
Wiersma, J.P., Friesche sagen (1934)
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