Netherlands

Our summer hike in De Hoge Veluwe National Park turned out very different from the relaxed walk we’d imagined. Starting from the Hoenderloo Gate, we crossed open heathlands glowing purple, trudged through deep sand under a relentless sun, and cooled off in quiet forests where moss softened the light. A shaded lunch break at the central café revived us before the long, hot stretch across the flat sand plains. Between the traces of the Kröller-Müller family’s old estate, the debate over wolves, and a deer that appeared at dusk, the day revealed the park’s beauty and its quiet toughness.

Autumn in the Netherlands always feels fleeting. One week the trees are golden, and the next the wind and rain have swept everything bare. On one of those quiet November days, when the air was crisp and the light already turning wintry, we set out for a short walk in the woods — De Duintjes Trail in the village of Garderen.