UKATANI

From  https://www.gelderlander.nl I nicked some pics from the local newspaper, reader's photos

Our boots in the snow in the hamlet of Heelweg-oost, from Maarten Front yard Looking east...Not much traffic on the BBBROEKERWEG. Over at the the fishing park  'de Kool', they run a fountain pump to keep the water open and not freeze over. The geese winter over on these ponds De Slinge has some water, it is flowing so it does not freeze completely. Water is pumped out of the Slinge river onto the outdoor skating rink If you zoom in you can see a bloke cranking up a sweeper machine.  They have to keep the snow off as it insulates the ice underneath. The water is pumped under and circulates under the ice, makes better ice for skating It should be thick enough and hard enough to skate on Thursday.. Bike path along the Slinge river. Temperature  -3° C

Latest from Maarten, our man on the ground in Heelweg. There is a little river, more like a creek running through Heelweg,  'de boven slinge', pronounced 'slinger', it is not navigable by kayak as they use it for irrigation and flood control and there are moveable flood gates every kilometer or so. There are bike and walking paths alongside. In winter they level a field, dyke it, shallow flood it, from the Slinge and then use it as a public skating rink. This is the first time this winter that is has been cold enough to freeze the rink.  It is safer to skate on a shallow flooded field than than a natural deeper pond. Here they are measuring the thickness of the ice. The Dutch love to skate.....me ? I need to skate/ hold a chair, just as they teach the kids to skate holding a chair. Makes sense to me and you can sit down and rest on the ice, very practical. I used a shopping cart trying to learn with online roller skates. FAIL !