The regular practice trajectory: Haarlem-Katwijk Preface | Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Back Part V: Noordwijk-Katwijk And then, for dessert: an hour of training down the holiest bit of beach along the Dutch coastline, that where our Queen likes to ride and the Dutch national squad often scurries about. As we move past the foot of the colossal players' hotel, the Hotel Huis Ter Duin, we're given ample opportunity to reminisce, about victories past, like the European Championship of 1988 - and about victories ungained, like the World Championship of 1978. And to enjoy sun, sea and sand. Impressive as they always are, by the time we march past here, they are more than likely more so yet. For by now the day's end is near, and so we are likely to be treated to one of the beautiful sunsets that bathe our coastline in redgolden skylight every so often. Reason for romanticism and melancholy, that fight inside us for prevalence until, past the Northern dunes, by the edge of Katwijk, we run into the Rhine, that flows out into sea here, passing under a dam, through its discharge locks. This spot, where salt and sweet combine to be brackish, is an important one, for the Wandelsoc.. For not only is this the end of this regular practice trajectory, it is also the place where our first major practice project, 'Crossing Borders From Border To Border', a march in five legs along the Limes, the northern border of the Roman Empire, formed by the Old Rhine, from Emmerich to Katwijk, right through Holland, was concluded succesfully, in 2001. And so we may once more realize that everything flows, and honour that thought by letting flow all kinds of everything, down our throats, at the Hotel Savoy, our customary finish, on the far side of the dam. Then to afterwards, from atop the Boulevard a few hundred metres further down, take that very same bus nr.90 to Haarlem that we would otherwise have boarded in Noordwijk (do, by the way, never forget to bring your wallet along, since if you do, you wont have the money to buy any food or drink along the way, nor a bus ticket and will not even have the money to acquire one, and everything will become somewhat expensive, all the more so if all your friends who have cars are abroad on that particular day), on our way home after a succesful training march, our gaze confidently directed towards the future. If you didn't know better already, you might almost get into a poetical mood because of it. Back to Part IV | Back to the Wandelsoc.