Sheep grazing on the beach.

Dunes party with drums and trumpets: If Ameland in the Dutch old-distress lifeboat to the water left, it is with the rest of the island over. They say this other horse and sheep good night - and the cars barely get tourists to face.

 

Hollum - Ameland is usually before the Dutch coast an ideal area for cyclists. Each corner of the small island is accessible by bicycle. But on this Saturday to help in Hollum only descend if there is a traffic there, he would now Chaos Report. Crowds of people move through the Johan Wilhelm Burgerstraat, at intersections, there is congestion. Who the wheel has not turned off, you must push. Hundreds of spectators want to be there when the "Abraham Fock", the old lifeboat of the islanders, water is left.

In the summer happens regularly Saturday mornings. This time everything is still louder than usual: In Hollum is Musikfest. And one or other music group that started the afternoon, is already underway in the direction Reddingsmuseum. Timpani strokes are to hear a tuba growls, rich trumpet sound is a - well, it can no longer be. The more the quantity of the Reddingsmuseum Abraham Fock approaches, the more it will close on the narrow streets.

Used the old lifeboat no more. Long island, the sea rescue cruiser, in the Ballum bay at anchor, and from there to sail, if someone needs help. The old boat used to bring, was and is difficult, if only because it Hollum on a hanger with horse power transported to the beach and into the water to be withdrawn. Nevertheless, the Amela made it a tradition that is now far beyond the coast also is known.

Ten horsepower before boot

The "tewatering" is a blend of folk and traditional care. It recalls the time when the rescue people in distress from an even more risky undertaking than today was. As long as it is still not produce until the end of the eighties, has a modern lifeboat Ameland get after several horses in the waves were drowned when the "Abraham Fock" had to use.

TMN
Many beach Mileage: Ameland is one of the five islands off the Dutch coast - the four island villages, such as on a string strung together

Before the museum, where "Abraham Fock" is housed, has been a human grape. The oversized buoy in front of the museum are two children climbed in order to be able to see better.

Pairs are placed on the horses, ten pieces in total, and finally the trailer forward, the lifeboat in the stores. The signal is hard to hear, then they are already in motion - and the audience too. Hundreds of good-humored people prefer the horses behind her in the direction Dünenkamm, and the cyclist must move again. One group has horns on the advocates of a tractor taken place and is therefore all the better to hear. A band plays "Beautiful is the world to be."

It is how Carnival on the Wadden Sea. Many islanders are running, but the great majority are tourists. On the dunes are hundreds of people. Again, there is a signal with the whistle, and even the horses pull the trailer with the "Abraham Fock" on the beach. Then the lifeboat under heavy applause into the water left. Quite the front of the dunes to weigh De Amelander Juttersvrouwen "in the rhythm, so brides beach robbers. And he who is not the same as the text mitkommt, the melody is easy to recognize: "We are not banning the singing."

Four villages and lots of beach

But that is Ameland in a state of emergency. Usual way, the small island watts very differently: as a single giant sheep pasture with a long sandy beach on the side. In the sky are clouds white fluffy cuddle, like motionless from cotton. On the willows blooming clover, rape of yellow lights to the horizon. And in the white dunes of the beach reckt his oats straws high. Four villages there are here and who should decide what the best is to have long pondering.

Lineker Blokker Hollum lives in on a former farm and rented rooms in the former barn, which is particularly popular with guests who arrive in groups. "Most of the Germans come for the beaches and sea," she says. "The beach of Ballum changes almost every week, the nature is really an artist." One may, with the car ferry to take. "But you do not need it here," says Lineker. "Most Amela have one, and some go so well every week. But if I get it six times a year to use, then that's a lot."

One can well understand: Cycling is much nicer than driving a car, even though there are some rules. "Niet op het beach!" and "Een persoon per fiets!" are the two most important rules of cycling distributors: not on the beach, not five people on the racks you. Then you can sightedness.

All villages are connected to the wheel quickly reached. From Boer to Nes, where many restaurants are found, it is a stone's throw until Ballum not much further. The houses here are small and cozy, almost none has more than two floors. There are many very old, like the digits from Anke travel on the front page: Many have been in the 18th Century, when some Amela as whaling captains on ships came to assets. The streets are paved with red bricks, which you consider that they are a bit longer. Sometimes you can take a tractor from the village in the direction of grazing land, cars are rarely seen. The tempo-30-plate on the edge is actually superfluous.