I took almost the earliest possible train to Maastricht; as it gets dark so much earlier than in summer, I needed to optimise my use of daylight.
The train was delayed by 20 minutes and I was in Maastricht at 8.50, and back on the road a few minutes later.
The first part through Maastricht was pretty much 'how do I get out of here as soon as possible?' It got better once I reached the Sint-Pietersberg (Dutch have the idiotic habit of calling everything higher than 5m a mountain (berg)). It's quite pretty.
It also looks very different from when I lived there and sometimes went walking there (around 2004). The end of the Pieterpad is now a viewpoint above the ENCI quarry, which was closed-off terrain back then; and the signpost which said 'GR5 - Nice', that gave me the idea of walking on after the Pieterpad, is gone. There isn't even any kind of marking anymore signifying the finish.
After reaching it, I 'had' to go back. For one thing, the last part of the Pieterpad is a loop, and I wanted to have walked all of it; for another, at Chalet Bergrust you can get certificates saying that you have finished the Pieterpad. And now that I had finished it after so many years, I wanted the damn certificate, too. So I went to get it, and then returned to the finishing point.
From there, there was a stairway down (it claimed to have 210 steps) , which was quite nice. Then I had to walk all the way through the quarry, which took pretty long. They're kind of repurposing it, with nature and some buildings and space for creative things, but at the moment it's not very impressive yet. Upon leaving the quarry I found the white-and-red markings and I was truly on the GR5. Yeah!

My GR5 book started its description in Kanne. Walking to Kanne took quite some time, and slowly I started to realise that I had done some serious miscalculating in planning this day. I had to reach Visé, as I had booked an airbnb apartment there. Kanne - Visé is 22km, the last bit of the Pieterpad was 4, and I thought the connection between the two would be 1 or 2km. But I didn't look it up or anything. It was probably 5, or even more. And I also didn't include the back and forth between finish and Chalet Bergrust in the calculation.
So by the time I reached the start of the 22km in Kanne, it was almost noon, I had already walked about 12km, and realised my plan was way more ambitious than I had thought. So I figured I couldn't take long breaks, and definitely shouldn't mess up and lose the trail, or I'd be in trouble. As is would be getting dark around 5, it was something of a race with time.

However, I managed way better than I expected. I took one break of about 20 minuten, at an awesome collection of platforms built in some trees; I have no idea idea why it was there, or whose it was, but it was one of the best lunch spots ever. Although by that time I had long finished my lunch, as I was very hungry all day.
There isn't all that much to say about the rest of the route. THe landscape and villages are definitely not Dutch, which is good. I passed the Jeker a lot (a little river), and followed it at times, which was nice; I like running water.
There rather empty fields and unimpressive villages. It was not boring, exactly, but not very impressive either. I did get some nice views, as it is somewhat hilly terrain.
It was quite warm; I walked on sandals and without my coat for most of the day, and for a few hours even had to take off my sleeved shirt. Very nice to be catching so much sunshine in November.

Reaching Visé, I had to cross first the Albert Canal, then the Maas. I was led over a somewhat roundabout path between the two, but it was way nicer than following the big road.
I found out one thing about Visé: they have a hell of a lot of geese. And ducks, but mainly geese. They have even created places where it is allowed, authorised, to feed them, and everywhere else is forbidden. Apparently, the geese get fed so much they don't even eat everything and just leave food lying there.
After the second bridge I went looking for a supermarket (which I didn't find at first) and the address where I'd be staying. I arrived at the latter shortly after 6, which was only about half an hour later than I had expected to arrive originally. Considering I walked about 7km more than I had counted on, not bad.
It was dark by 5.30, and I was glad I was in a town (which was why the original plan was even possible, the last 4km would be in a town, with lights and stuff. I don't fancy walking alone in the unilluminated middle of nowhere when it's dark).

So yeah, Pieterpad is finally done! And I have walked my first day of GR. Which here is marked surprisingly well. I noticed several side trails that I would never have considered unless they were clearly marked, that had crosses, telling you the route does not go there.
I expected to feel all jubilant about having finished the Pieterpad, after all the the signposts in the Netherlands saying 'St Pietersberg 34km' and such giving me a 'woah it's nearly done!' feeling; but it wasn't really noticeable. At least, it wasn't after the first 15 minutes or so after I reached the finish. I guess I'm more focused now on what is to come than what is behind me.

Geschreven door Jewaontheroad