The Drenthe Feeling

When the alarm went off, I heard the pattering of rain against the big bedroom window and the wind was whistling as it blew in the partially open side-window. I opened my eyes and rolled over to look. Mmmm. It didn't look like I would have optimal weather for the trip up to Drenthe to visit my elderly auntie. I blinked a few times and sat up.

As soon as my feet hit the rug, I was moving and motivated to get on my way. A shower, brekkie, some food in a bag and a thermos of tea. Time to put a foot in the road.
I went down to load up the rental auto and was away.

The weather had taken a change for the better--it was now dry. That's about all I could say though. It was still cold and windy. The drive up to Beilen took a bit longer than two hours; however, it was interesting to see how the landscape changed as well as the architecture. I drove through an area that had been reclaimed from the sea--that is to say, on what was once the bottom of the sea...driving up to Drenthe gradually went "uphill"-- to the old land.

Once in Beilen, I found my aunt's address rather quickly (she had moved to a retirement home) and went in for a chat. I spent about three hours there and she was quite glad to have company and hear all the news.
Bidding farewell, I set out to find the Hunebedden center which was in Borger--which wasn't too far away from Beilen.
Before arriving at the center, it was time for lunch. I had packed some sandwiches and bikkies, so I found a quiet, suitable place to pull over. Ahhhh...it was the edge of a zandverstuifing. Now folks, I was in my element. Birds chirping in the woods that surrounded me and that peculiar sandy arena to study as I sat there quietly eating and sipping hot tea.
A bite, a sip, a couple of chews...and a listen. That's the way it went. How nice.
But afterwards I thought that I had better get to the henebed center and begin my hunt.

The center was packed to the gills with children and adults. The film had just started and the entrance price was a bit steep, so I decided to give the center a pass. I just looked at the things that were to be seen outside the displays and picked up a map of the area. Holland's largest hunebed is located here.
Here is a link if you want to have a look and play with the panorama shots (notice in the upper left hand corner flags. You can click on the british flag to be able to read English (sadly only the home page has been translated):

http://www.hunebedcentrum.nl/

I had already searched out some sites on the internet that I thought I might have time to visit, but I had to let some fall by the wayside, as I had spent more time with my aunt than I had planned. No matter, my journey back into time had begun....

Drenthe is a quiet and thinly populated province in north-eastern Nederland and its geography is elevated and the soil is sandy. This is what we call the "old land", it has always been above sea level.

This mysterious and somewhat desolate land really makes for a sphereful(ambience) journey back into time. One can almost expect to see a small band of Neolithics shuffling across the heather fields...or working their fields.

Where am I going with this? Desolate landscape, Neolithic tribes, hunebedden, stillness and an unseen "feeling" of mystery. I felt like an interloper in a world that was. A sort of ... lost world, if you will.
I am a very down to earth person, but I always have the feeling when I am walking about in Drenthe that I can "feel" the ancientness of the place. I am also overwhelmed with curiosity of the strange history of the area. There are so many un-answered questions.

Now, Hunebedden. What does this word mean? Well, literally it means "Hun's beds" and the term refers to the grave chambers that the Trechter beeker-people built from large stones left by receeding glacers. However, the folk that built them were not Huns, they were members of a neolithic culture called here, the Trechterbekerkultuur (Funnel beaker culture). A cultural group that were farmers/shepherds which existed circa 4000 BC-2700 BC.
Their range extended from southern Norway and Sweeden down to Germany and Bohemia with a western extention into Nederland.

The people get their name from the form of the pottery which was typical for them;


...however, it is the grave chambers that I want to introduce you to this evening. The Hunebed. Those eerie megalithic formations that one sees here and there across the Drenthe countryside. There are fifty-four known hunebedden in drenthe today but back into the 1800's there were more than twice that many. Sadly the "missing" ones were lost when people tore the hunebedden down to use the stones for construction--a habit that has taken place in many countries.--like Spain, for instance.

One can see a hunnebed while driving down the road. It may look like a little soil mound (which is the way they looked when newly made.


A closer look.


With the passing of time, wind and rain have eroded the soil. Now the most common sight are the bare stones placed on top of each other.


The beech tree has not been here for 3000 years, but it has been here a long time --so long that it had grown in a form that accomodates the shape and presence of the megalith.


It is difficult to tell where tree ends and stone begins. The tree does seem to have lifted the end of the stone as it grew upwards.


This was a good place for another cup of tea and perhaps a "Snelle Jelle" (a soft cookie). I think better when my finger is crooked around the "ear" of a cup.

These stones are pure granite and weigh a ton, so to speak. Recorded weights are 2-23 tons. This makes one ponder the method of construction. How in the world did they manage to get such heavy stones on top of each other, and how were they able to bring the huge stones to the grave chamber construction site?

Well, they were a semi-agricultural, semi-herder and semi-nomadic culture, so it is reckoned that they used oxen to help with the placement and transportation.


Some of the mysterious hunebedden that are to be found can be seen from the road; however, most of them are tucked-away in remote places that you must leave the comfortable confines of the auto to walk to.
Strolling down typical lanes and paths, one feels an interesting grip of suspence...he notices the absence of typical man-made sounds, which are replaced by more natural ones-- beetles creeping on the dead, brown leaves, the smell of moist woods and bird songs.


The mind races as the senses are heightened by the slight increase of adrenelin. What will this next one look like? How big will it be?
I was aware of the constant moist and cool breeze that blew-- like the breath of the long dead occupants of this land expressing some kind of resentment to my inquiring presence. A chilly objection from the souls long reclaimed by the wet sod of the Province. It was so cold out on the wind-swept heather and in the woods...


A view from the end.


Sometimes the trails are not well marked and you have to use your brain to estimate which way to go. Not always an easy choice when everything looks the same as you look around you.
It is early spring, so there is a startling contrast of the dead-ness of the winter and the re-juvenation of fresh, green growth. Pleasant to see, but a bit bewildering when you are trying to figure the way to go....and how to get back.


The hunebedden are all similar, yet different. Different in height (they can be twice my height) and they can be only up to my shin. They are different in length as well.




The soil in Drenthe is very sandy under the sod and the most common trees are beech, pine-sorts and birches. Many other kinds of bushes and such, make up the thickets and stands now present in the landscape.
The path to the last site was a lovely one where there was an even balance between mystery and beauty.


I followed the sandy path until I came to an opening and saw a construction that is unique here in that the archeologists have left it half excavated so that one can see the "normal" earthy finished product and the stoney construction phase.


The entrance is always on the southern side and after placing the body, or ashes inside, a stone was placed in the small doorway. Some had wooden doors, since the folk buried many bodies in most tombs.


I unscrewed the top on the thermos to pour the last cupful and sat there on the corner of one of the stones as I considered it all.
These lonely and remote places are just right for me. I enjoy the quiet and find it ideal to conremplate things. Not things related to work or daily occurences, but more philosophical subjects and of course how it must have been all those thousands of years ago...back when human life in Europe was beginning to take a serious turn.

I could have stayed here for much longer, but the constant moist and cold wind was relentless and I longed for a fresh cuppa at home in my easy chair.
I had consumed all the sandwiches and tea that I had taken and with this latest hunebed exposure, I was cured for another couple of years.
The long walk back to the auto was one that I took very slowly, taking-in the panorama of sights, sounds and smells...and of course...the Drenthe Feeling.

 

*Nodding* Amazing Sjoerd. I agree with Toni, the mystic has come thru your pics. No doubt.

I know how you felt being there. Well not there, but i know the feeling of being in a place like that gives. Up north it was a feeling like that everytime i walked Balder and we came upon a place that was less traveled. I think being gardeners of a sort gives us the advantage of being more sensitive to the earths vibrations. All those centuries of feelings built up and absorbed into the surroundings. It is mystical, and when you come across a place like that, you can not help but feel the sacredness and beauty of it all there. Even if it is a place of death, the living still surrounded it, and gave out their feelings also.

Well done, and thank you so much for sharing your trip to Drenthe.

 

excellent post sjoerd! the pics are amazing, as is the subject matter. they, and your words really take one there.

 

Thanks for taking us along on the trip!

 

That was a great post Sjoerd, I actually had chills a few times while reading it. Such amazing history.
When we get so taken up in our technology and rushing about in our lives, we forget the painstaking measures people had to go through.
The pics were haunting, to think you were alone out there, no other human in sight.
Very very interesting.

 

I enjoyed this post, too. I always enjoy the history of things. In the west of our country are many native ruins and burial mounds to be seen. It's hard to imagine people living in such places with all the modern things we are used to having.
dooley

 

Thanks TONI-- I enjoyed reading your post and it is nice that you could get the "feeling" that I had and was talking about.

Thank you too, BIITA-- It is always nicce when I am able to convey (to some degree) feelings and impressions that I have or experience. I had a strong feeling that if you would happen to read this posting of mine, that you would most certainaly "get" what was going on, for I deduced it having read your postings carefully in the past.
I could tell by your word choice that you understood clearly the impressions that I was aware of whilst visiting the sites.


Yes EILEEN--By all means send it to your son. I'd like that.
I'm glad that you liked the posting. Next time you are over here, perhaps you could visit some of theses places yourself.
They are sort of like the barrows and dolmen that you have over there.

Thank you very much, BUNKIE-- You say the nicest things.

You are most welcome, CHERYL.

4G--Thank you for your nice reaction to the posting.
You are spot on about in a time of technology that taking the time to be alone and quietly contemplate the way things were or could have been is a very relaxing passtime. It must have been very difficult for those people in a world without electricity, mechanized vehicles or adequate dwellings--sort of exposed to the elements to a degree 24/7.

I know about the ruins in NM and Arizona as well as Utah, having made not one, but tours through the area.
There are certain places that gives me similar feelings as I get in Drenthe.
The dwellings of the Anasazi in the canyon walls and the pueblos of the Navaho Indians...all tremendously interesting to me.

 

Thanks for taking me along Sjoerd... I love talking walks like this. Such beautiful country, I feel like I just needed to stop and soak it all in. I think Biita said it well when she said "you can not help but feel the sacredness and beauty of it all there. Even if it is a place of death, the living still surrounded it, and gave out their feelings also".

 

I appreciate your kind words, NETTY. It's been a long time since I had visited some of these remarkable structures, so it was almost like seeing them for the first time.
They are not visited heavily, and some almost not at all. Tourists almost never see them, at least I have never seen a tourist at any of the sites. I suppose that they are to out of the way...and you sort of have to know what you are looking for.
Biita does have a way with words, doesn't she.

 

I enjoyed your tour of Drenthe. Our U.S. history is less than 500 years so its amazing to see structures that existed BC. Great narration and photos...I feel like am right there seeing it for myself. The beautiful landscape adds to the sense of serenity surrounding the hunnebeds. If there was a crowd of tourists it would detract from the peacefulness you felt. Thanks for the tour.

 

Thanks very much, Gail. I am glad that you enjoyed the posting. It really is a special place....Drenthe.

 

oh, it looks so beautiful! thanks for sharing all these with us. I'm really feeling like after a great walk through this place wonderful pictures!

 

I am very glad that you liked the posting, MissSapphire. It is a remarkable province and the stone chambers are very interesting to see with one's own eyes in relation to their surroudings.