Trying to find Kara and Nate

Another forced long drive, literally near where the car broke down over a month ago.
Another mission today: finding Kara and Nate Buchanan who were walking the 4Daagse 2024 . Much easier than finding Russ Cook , you may think, because we only knew where Russ started, but with Kara and Nate you knew exactly how far they’d walked. Well, sort of exactly, since we only knew the exact distance of the route every 5K (those were the points that they clocked everyone), so even though we knew exactly how much they’d walked via this app, it still required a bit of guessing where this was in the map.
And if you didn’t bear our names, you would have waited, just to be on the save side.
But we do..
We wanted to do our favourite walk first. Fannar is always with us and he was excited and we ourselves aren’t really good at hanging around either and hadn’t moved our bodies for a couple of days.
Still were sensible enough to shorten the hike; decided not to walk the heather-y bit on the left.
Noticed it was much more humid than we initially thought, so the hike went much slower, as Fannar can’t deal with the warmth.
Sooo, other people would have found another, faster route to make sure to not miss the people and thus jeopardize the whole bloody mission. I even suggested it, but my man said we would have to wait for a long time (read: over 30 minutes….only🤔🙄). Was too long for us and we were too FOMO to not be able to finish our hike without it becoming too busy.
Arrived at our waiting point. It was as good as it could be for us personally: no others waiting around there, no music at that very spot (but continuously, though, in the distance), no wind and so no smells coming from the walkers, in the shade etc.
And…… A good glimpse of the backs of the people that we came to Nijmegen for in the first place.
Yup…..
Kind of a miscalculation and the fact that we simply can’t hang around doing nothing, AND too scared we couldn’t get back to the car due to it increasingly becoming busier everywhere…..
Literally 15 seconds earlier would have been okay.
Yup…
If only we didn’t tank petrol before leaving in the early morning…..
If only I didn’t sh*t myself due to my period and we didn’t have to stop on the way there…..
If only Fannar drank water the first time we gave him, so that we didn’t have to try a second time…..
If only we walked the route reversed…..
If only…..
Other people would have chased those specific people for a bit or called their names, but we’re not other people – we don’t/can’t go near people and don’t like drawing attention to ourselves.
Decided to hang around for a bit anyway and filmed JuSt In CaSe 🤪 and to enjoy Fannar: never really sees other people, now sees hundreds in one go, but simply decides to plant his little bum on the ground and watch everyone… 😍
Then continued our hike back to the car. Was nice and peaceful if you were able to ignore the stupid, dumb, continuous shouting of the guy through a microphone, playing stupid songs non stop…
Never ever expected to see wild animals, because if we normally rarely see them, surely they’ve hidden somewhere today especially..
Couldn’t be more wrong: saw the Kingfisher and a squirrel, pretty nearby.
Was able to film the squirrel on my phone only, but my man took the time to photograph the Kingfisher on our huge adult camera (although we were so distracted, that he forgot to check the settings 🤦🏻‍♀️).
Rushed back as fast as we could considering Fannar and unfortunately had to take an offroad D-Tour through the woods where the ground was covered with ferns and bramble, because it got SO busy at some point near the end. Our plan was to go to try and find two other places and wait for the people that we came for.
Was a bit of a mission in itself, considering a lot of roads were closed off. D-Tours and one way roads where there were traffic control dudes guiding all drivers from both directions etc.

Arrived at our second place. Was just over the German border where we parked before to start a hike there a few months ago, just on the other side of where we were earlier that day. Normally would take about 5-10 to drive there, now took about 30 minutes.

Sooo it turned out that the restaurant there was open for walkers of the 4Daagse. A lot of cars were parked there anyway for spectators (didn’t think people would go there as it’s not near the “gezelligheid” that you can only find downtown) and groups of people arrived there to grab something to eat in the cosy garden: army dudes from the USA, Germany, Norway and walkers from Wales, etc.

I most definitely couldn’t leave the car, given that my side was halfway down the small-ish road. So we decided that my man was giving it a go to rush into the woods that were lying directly on the left side.
Obviously, whilst waiting for my man to return, an older guy lost the peddle of his electrical bike right next to our car. Multiple people started helping him by looking for the missing part that was necessary to secure the peddle. A girl even decided to kneel down next to the cars and look under them – including ours. She noticed me and I heard them say that perhaps “I” had seen it happening…. I looked the other way and made sure they wouldn’t even WANT to ask me. 😁
Meanwhile my man kept on filming the walkers between some trees and bushes. There literally wasn’t any way possible that we could’ve missed the people this time, but alas, we did once more… My man could only find a tiny bit of open road and somehow everyone was walking FAST, so in-between he would stop filming because the camera was so heavy, he must’ve missed them. Still, observing people from a distance was fun on itself, look for yourself.
Getting back to the car was quite a task and a two-man-job, where I was the observer and text my man when he was good to go and he still had to use his own pair of eyes to look just around the corner where mine couldn’t see.
It was so stuffy in the car by now, because we couldn’t/didn’t want to ventilate the car nearby others….
Leaving that small-ish road had to be driven in reverse.
We rushed to the third and final place where we were hoping to see “our” people, before they would go where we ourselves would NEVER go (aka the urbs). Upon arriving, we quickly noticed that it was busy AF. Still, perhaps we could find our own way through a field or so. But nearing the entrance, we read on this sign that there was a parking fee and in order to pay manually, they would come right next to your car where you had to hand and get handed money/the ticket through your window…! We didn’t even have change, but even if we did, it was way too scary anyway.
There was no way to turn the car, so another long reversed drive back where my man nearly fractured his neck, or so it felt.
Rushed to our final destination: the hotel where those people stayed in. By now we were happy with ANY road where there were no people, so that all windows could be opened and the vent as well.
We had to go through the city centre and it went through where the walkers begin and end and especially today they were installing the tribunes for the final leg of the walk tomorrow.
Arriving at the very luxurious hotel/Spa, we noticed that you have to pay for a parking ticket. Again. If we don’t know in advance where we have to pay for that ticket, we get anxious.
So we parked the car near a small stadium, across the road. Thinking we would FINALLY be able to recuperate in the car, windows down and doors open and Fannar play with his ball, it turned out that cyclists used that side of the parking place to ride through, like, what the actual fuck……..
Nijmegen is situated between relatively much nature and we really like going there, but Jesus, it’s all very cramped. We’ve been there often in those 10 years that we’ve known each other and we’ve always come to the same conclusion that it’s impossible to find a quiet place or even a larger parking place to recuperate. Their parking places are often stretched out alongside a busy road, rather than a separate parking lot.
So we didn’t/couldn’t stay here for a longer period of time all cramped in the car and had to quickly decide what to do: waiting for those people who’d cycle back to their hotel later (but when exactly..?), somehow drop off the bag with snacks and a letter we’d brought at the hotel, find a quiet place outside town and even perhaps spend the night in the car so that we could try it all again on Friday..? This had to be decided so quickly, because we can only arrive back at mum’s house between specific time frames: at 13-14PM, 4:30PM (very literally time to undress and freshen up, though) or after 19PM.
The heat was absolutely minging and Fannar always runs under the car whenever he’s nearby it and the sun’s out, not realising that the underside of the car is much hotter after driving. It’s really sad to see. So given the fact that we didn’t even know where to wait (was it even gonna be in the shade? Were we able to open all doors? Etc), how long we would have to wait and if we would spend the night somewhere here or in Germany and if it was going to be worth all of it, we decided to head back at mum’s house.
The mission still had to be completed though, and after my man convinced himself that HE COULD DO IT, he grabbed the little bag with snacks, a mask and went to the hotel on foot. It was not busy as soon as he had crossed the road and he spent only 2 minutes inside where it was quiet as well (thanks to the 4Daagse I assume).
When he got back we quickly drove to the highway, because highway means no humans nearby and thus all windows wide open!!! Well, that is, until we go crazy by the noise of the wind.
As soon as we stepped foot in the garden after mother had left to do a few groceries, we regretted leaving Nijmegen immediately: the dachshund she looks after started barking and NEVER. STOPPED. FOR. AN. ENTIRE. HOUR. I’ve told mother before that she shouldn’t look after dachshunds, as they’re not our vibe and by us I mean Fannar as well. He’s been feeling unwell and very unhappy ever since that dog arrived. He always joins mother’s dogs for breakfast and dinner and you can tell her really wants that, but he simply can’t because of that dachshund and so he eats much less than before and has his ears in his neck whenever he’s downstairs.
Today was no exception: Fannar stayed in the garden that he normally avoids wherever it’s hot and hid under the bench. Ears constantly in his neck. All he wanted was a kip in our room, so as soon as we could go inside after venting for long enough, we took the time and encouraged Fannar to walk past the dachshund to our room. He was knocked out soon after, with the barking still present coming from downstairs, but at least Fannar knew he was safe there.
And then when we thought everything had calmed down after mother picked up her dogs (and convincing that dog is sweet and submissive aka she couldn’t believe we hadn’t done anything to scare her), we noticed the neighbours had visitors come over from Germany, with kids………….
And then a migraine attack couldn’t be avoided and I had to lie down and skip dinner….
The following day started with a neighbour power washing his entire garden for the millionth time, then the groceries arrived that we ordered earlier this week and then mother got up…..
No rest for the weary and I think I’ve only inhaled my entire life and literally don’t know what it feels like to exhale. Or to not have a continuous scream inside of me.