First day of the year ...

... with my feet in the IJssel*

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First sunset of 2011 by the Buitenwaarden Wijhe (Overijssel).

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you had good fun celebrating New Year's Eve and that you welcomed 2011 in high spirts and good health!

After a lazy brunch on this first day of the year -and the decade-  we decided with my husband to take a short ride along the river IJssel and see what kind of images winter and nature would gift us with. We didn't have to go too far from Zwolle to find a delicious spot near the town of Wijhe.

In comparison to other rivers in the Netherlands, the IJssel is less accessible. Most of the towns and cities by the river have nice sandbeaches, but between one town and the next, it is quite difficult to get close to the water. That is why the Dutch Forestry Commission or Staatsbosbeheer in Dutch,has set up beautiful locations along the IJssel where you can get really close to the water and enjoy the view of the river and its habitat.

There are ten such spots of the Met je Voeten in de IJssel (which means, "with your feet in the IJssel") route and they can be indentified by cute signs like this one:

the "with your feet in the IJssel" sign marking one of the locations by the river in the Buitenwaarden Wijhe.

Riding out of Zwolle, we took the N337 and just 2 km north of the town of Wijhe, we found the parking place for the Buitenwaarden Wijhe, one of the locations set up by the Staatsbosbeheer.

Not knowing what to expect, I first got out of the car on my own, hoping to take a few shots and head back to the car as soon as possible. I first sighted the dijk (dyke):

People taking a New Year's stroll on the dyke at Buitenwaarden Wijhe.

Then of course, my eyes were drawn towards the sun and the water. The land between the summer and winter dykes get generally flooded at this time of the year and you get your feet definitely in the water if you wander off the marked foot- and cyclepaths:

With a bit of sun, Dutch skies turn into beautiful paintings.

I found an information board describing the habitat of De Buitenwaarden and discovered a mill in the distance. Could it get more Dutch than this? Educational and bucolic at the same time:

Flooded meadows by the IJssel, an informative board and a mill in the distance.

A mill in the far distance as seen from the dyke on De Buitenwaarden Wijhe.

I was truly mesmerised by the effect of the sunlight on the frozen water:

Abstract art for free on the IJssel river.

We then moved on a few kilometres down the N337 (the IJsseldijk) and stopped at another spot where it was possible to stroll closeby the water.
The whole area of the IJssel washwaters is one of the richest in bird life and we spotted hundreds of them!

A few amigos...

... and then two amigos:

 

We kept shooting away and enjoying the last moments of sunlight by the IJssel:

Finally, at around 16:35 of this, the 1st day of the year, and the decade, we took the last shot of this beautiful natural area by the IJssel river - it was time to head back home:

The sunset in a beautiful spot along the river IJssel, near Den Nul, province of Overijssel.

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*translation of "met je voeten in de IJssel" - the name of the route along the IJssel river.