Tuf-tuf

by Prof. Y. Lupardi

The position of this cache is (WGS-84):
N 52° 05.981'
E 004° 39.23'
and is situated in the Kingdom of The Netherlands (Holland, Dutch, Amsterdam, Ajax, cheese, tulips, wooden shoes, dikes, cows, water, windmills etc.)
and is hidden on 7/25/2001

Here is a map.
There is a scenic picture with the cache, marcklaasen and the 'wrong' bridge.
Here is an old b/w aireal photograph (spring 1989).
Here is a new colour aireal photograph (summer 2000, height 300 m).
Here is a b/w satellite photograph.

Due to circumstances (the Parkingbear?) the cache disappeared on jan 3 2002 and reappeared on jan. 6. See the messages of those dates on the geocaching page.
But in april the cache was reported als 'not found' by many. I will look for a better place in the near future.

If you like both cows and trains this is a good place to look for them together. A lot of grazing land with rustic ditches full of waterbirds and insects etc. Mixed in with it are treegrowing farmers. The train in this story goes from Alphen a/d Rijn to Bodegraven.

You can walk a nice stretch on a path that is not marked on my (1989) map but is a part of some footpath (there are stickers marking it; the VVV Alphen (Tourist organisation) has some more info) from
N 52° 05.847'
E 004° 38.481'
or 103 893 / 456 841
Go in eastward direction.
After 800 meter (at the end near the railway) you arrive at a official looking plank spanning a waterfilled ditch. On the last part of the walk you may meet with young 'blaarkoppen' (very special intelligent kind of cows) who are definitely in for some fun.

On bicycle you can go from
N 52° 06.388'
E 004° 38.947'
or 104 435 / 457 839
in SE-direction. This is a point where two bicycle routes come together: the Cope and the Laagland routes. The railway is 800 further on.

Coming from an easterly direction you can go as near as 100 meters with your car. Take care with parking: do not block the road and gates for 1 minute (heavy traffick and nasty neighbour here!) near
N 52° 05.953'
E 004° 39.286'
or 104 814 / 457 028
is some parking place. But beware of the lurking 'ParkingBear' who considers this nice open place as his hunting ground and never seems to sleep. Victims are immobilised with heavy concrete blocks within 10 minutes of arrival!

Search near the small bridge.
To find the cache there is absolutely no need to enter the railwayline. That is a very dangerous place to be!

Spoiler hint and photographs: (click here)

Cows

In the Dutch text I mention 'blaarkoppen', a kind of cow that is always in the mood for something funny. I found a mention of these cows in Het Volkskrant Magazine nr. 121 of 22/12/01 page 41 by Koos van Zomeren telling about 'Hollandse kade'. I quote (translation follows):"

Je ziet op de hoek van de polder een koppel roodbonte koeien lopen, op zich zelf zo kwaad nog niet, maar je weet dat daar de zwarte blaarkoppen van Cees Molenaar hebben gelopen en dat dit prachtige ras nu vrijwel geheel uit de streek verdwenen is."

What translates to:"

In a corner of the polder you can meet red-blotted cows, not so bad but you know that there were once black blaarkoppen from Cees Molenaar walking around. This beautifull race has disappeared now from the region."

So if someone finds the cache and also meets the 'blaarkoppen' please take a photograph!