Chapter 41 – Newly created land

The rest of the day went by uneventfully. With her permission, Martin also packed Louisa's things, so the following morning, they could leave rather early.

First, and as planned, they went to see the Hondsbossche Zeewering and more specifically the big project to broaden the dunes and the beach. With Great interest, Martin watched the huge machines blow watery sand on the beach. Big bulldozers assured that the sand was either piled into huge new dunes, or spread out on the beach, in order to widen the beach.

He gave Louisa a summary of what he had found on the subject the day before.

"The project has two main objectives: first, to enforce the dyke, by making it higher and by using more modern and strong constructions. We have just seen that, it is a rather ugly construction, but as the Netherlands don't have natural rocks that protect the land against the sea, this will help the Dutch to preserve their land.

The second goal is to construct a new line of dunes and a wider beach. In other words, create land westwards, which in itself also serves two goals, security on one hand and nature and recreation on the other. To prevent the new dunes from blowing away, they will plant them with beach grass. In the future wind will provide the dunes of sand and they will grow and get stronger in a natural way.

The material for the operation, the sand, comes from the seabed. The contractors chose to make the new coastline 300 meters westward, into the sea to move up. With pipes and vessels is 33 million cubic meters of sand will be sprayed on the coast. Bulldozers and excavators ensure that the sand gets in the right place, just before the dyke.

These dunes should ensure that millions of Dutch won't be overtaken by the water in the west of the country. An idea of local entrepreneurs is to create a lagoon at the height of Camperduin. This will attract more tourists and that will be beneficiary for the local economy. On top of the highest dune, a watchtower will be built which will make it possible to overview the whole project".

"I am deeply impressed", Louisa said.

She shifted James from one hip to the other, which for Martin was a sign to take him over from her. He showed his son the huge bulldozers and impressive pipes that under very high pressure spewed tons of muddy sand on the beach. Obviously, Martin used a lot of very technical terms to explain what was happening in front of them, but that didn't bother James. He enjoyed every single word his father spoke to him in a soft voice, even if he didn't understand .

Louisa took a lot of pictures and was already thinking of a project she could do with her class next term. After a coffee break in Petten, they followed the coastline to the north until Callantsoog. From there, they turned in the direction of Anna Paulowna, Hyppolytushoef and Wieringen. Small towns, with strange names, even for the Dutch, that were located in the flat agricultural environment. Also here, they passed some beautiful tulip fields in all kind of colours.

"Look Martin, this is just like what Morwenna and I saw near Lisse!".

"Yes, it is a misunderstanding that the flowerfields are only located near the Keukenhof. There are a lot of flower cultivators here, but also in the Flevo-polder and the Noordoost-polder.", Martin replied. He wasn't willing to stop for a picture though, saying that the smell of the flowers was too intense for him.

They passed the harbour of Den Oever and entered the Afsluitdijk. Louisa and her class had done some research on this remarkable construction. On Martin's request, Louisa retrieved her note from her bag and enthusiastically explained all about it.

"The Afsluitdijk is a major causeway in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and 1932 and running from Den Oever on Wieringen in the province North Holland, to the village of Zurich in the province Friesland province, over a length of 32 kilometres, which is 20 miles. It has a width of 90 metres, 300 ft. and it has a height of 7.25 metres above sea-level.

It is a fundamental part of the larger Zuiderzee Works, damming off the Zuiderzee, which was a salt water inlet of the North Sea. Since the damming is a fact, the water slowly turned it into the fresh water of the Ijsselmeer. The lake was called after the river IJssel, that feeds the lake with fresh water more southwards.

Previous experiences had demonstrated that boulder clay, rather than just sand or clay, was the best primary material for a structure like the Afsluitdijk, with the added benefit that there was plenty ot boulder clay available in the area. It could be retrieved in large quantities by simply dredging it from the bottom of the Zuiderzee. When they started the building of it, work started at four points: on both sides of the mainland and on two specially made construction-islands, Kornwerderzand and Breezanddijk along the line of the future dyke.

From these points, the dyke slowly grew by ships depositing the boulder clay into the open sea in two parallel lines. Sand was then poured in between the two dykes and as soon as it emerged above the surface, which was then covered by another layer of clay. The nascent dyke was then strengthened from land by basalt rocks and mats of willow switch at its base. The dyke could then be finished off by raising it further with sand and finally clay for the surface of the dyke, on which grass was planted".

After about 7 miles from Den Oever, a special parking had been built, so Martin parked the car. It made it possible for them to see the dyke from the Ijsselmeer side and to experience being in the middle of this long dyke.

"This was all created by human beings, Louisa. Probably a lot of it with their bare hands.", Martin mentioned.

"Yes and the construction of it progressed even better than expected. At three points along the line of the dyke there were deeper underwater trenches where the tidal current was much stronger than elsewhere. They thought that those would be major obstacles to completing the dyke, but all of them proved to be relatively straightforward. In May 1932, two years earlier than initially thought, the Zuiderzee ceased to be, as the last tidal trench, here at the Vlieter, was closed by a final bucket of clay. The IJsselmeer was born, even though it was still salty at the time.

The dyke itself however was not finished yet as it still needed to be brought up to its required height. Furthermore, they had to build a road linking Friesland and North Holland. On the 25th of September 1933, the Afsluitdijk was officially opened, with this monument designed by architect Dudok marking the spot where the dyke had been closed." Louisa pointed to the monument located next to the parking. It also served as a watchtower. A bronze relief representing the dyke workers marked the spot in a special way.

"I wonder how much material has been used to make this dyke", Martin asked.

Louisa answered,

"According to the study my pupils did, they used about 23 million cubic meter of sand and 13.5 million cubic meter of boulder clay. Over the years an average of around four to five thousand workers were involved with the construction every day, relieving some of the unemployment following the Great Depression".

"Wow".

"Beside the dyke itself, is was necessary to construct of two complexes of shipping locks and discharge sluices at both ends of the dyke. The complex at Den Oever includes the Stevin lock and three series of five sluices for discharging the IJsselmeer into the Wadden Sea. The other complex at Kornwerderzand is composed of the Lorentz locks and two series of five sluices, making a total of 25 discharge sluices. It is necessary to discharge water from the lake at regular moments since the lake is continuously fed by rivers and streams. The river Ijssel is the most important fresh water supplier, but polders also drain their water into the IJsselmeer. All of that, also meant a lot of work for lots of people".

Again, Louisa took a lot of pictures, to show to her pupils later. She also gathered some brochures and information booklets at the small kiosk.

They continued their way to Friesland. At the other end of the Afsluitdijk, they stopped for a moment to watch the locks and sluices. They were lucky to see one of the locks in use, so they could see how a ship was guided from the Ijsselmeer into the Wadden sea. This took a while so they benefited from the moment to eat their sandwich lunch, carefully prepared by Louisa in the morning.

In the afternoon, Martin and Louisa drove through the Frisian countryside. They followed the dykes at the north side and admired the view of the green land. Louisa was particularly interested in the huge Frisian horses, real working horses.

"I bet some of those also had a role in the making of the huge dyke", she said. "Real beauties and so strong!" Martin just nodded as an answer, he wasn't a big fan of animals, let alone these huge ones.

Martin showed her that at every entry of the village, its name was mentioned in two languages.

"Fries is an official language, not a dialect", he explained, "with a proper grammar, literature and so on. The people here try to keep their language alive. So the children learn it at school. That's why we see Oenkerk and also Oentsjerk on the sign".

Martin's and Louisa's next destination was a town called Dokkum. They had booked a room in hotel "de Abdij", which means the abbey. Martin had been attracted to the large spacious rooms and the fish courses on the menu. Louisa was charmed by its location in the centre of this beautiful town. As the distances are not very long in this country, they arrived at their destination at lunch time, perfect timing when you have a hungry toddler in the backseat of your car.

They were able to do an early check-in and then went to the restaurant. Apart from them, there were some businessmen and a family with three rather young children. Martin frowned when he saw them, but quickly concluded that the children were behaving well.

Louisa had a view on the couple and smiled. She spoke in a low voice.

"Martin, that family is definitely not a Dutch family.. ".

"No."

"Martin…? How do you know?"

"I can't discuss patients with you…".

To be continued

The big project at the Hondsbossche Zeewering has been completed in 2014. When I was at primary school, we were taught that this was the only part of the coastline without a sandy beach, but thanks to the project, there is a large beach and there are high dunes now.