Abgefahren Maastricht =)

Last weekend I hitched from Maastricht to some friends in the small city Venray (between Venlo and Nijmegen in the east of the Netherlands). On the way out I stood 10 minutes on the official hitchhiking spot in Maastricht and had a ride of 45 kilometres the right way. Got out at the A2 x N273 junction and stood on the first parking lane along the N273 for 20 minutes for a ride of about 25 kms the right way. The other 4-5 times that I was there I waited for 5-10 minutes each time, this time a bit longer…

Interestingly, when I was shooting a picture there of a great hitchhiking spot in Baarlo, near Venlo, towards Maastricht and Heerlen, Ariel from Venlo, a known person came by on bike... also member of Hospitallity Club... we had been in a party in Duisburg in January... A few minutes later I went off again from a favorite hitchhiking spot along the N273. A place where the songs of birds, mostly in a nearby estate domain with a forest, dominate the noise of the road, which adds much to the pleasant atmosphere of the spot. The previous time I found myself there was in august last year. A friendly driver took me along, with a small detour just before Venray to drop off one of the passengers. I was dropped off in front of the front door of my destination.

For the way back the next day my friend brought me in the evening to a place close to the motorway petrol station at the A73 close to Venray. After a short hike in a beautiful forest I arrived at the station, enjoyed the local wildlife a bit and started to look for a driver. At 9 pm this petrol station was not very busy and most drivers were turning off to Germany from Venlo. After about 10 minutes I posed the question “Excuse me, are you heading for Zuid-Limburg*?” for the tenth time or so and it was positively answered. I took my seat in the red Volkswagen.

Greetings
Frank

* Zuid-Limburg (South Limburg): the southern half of the Dutch province of Limburg, where Maastricht and several other cities are situated

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