Click here for this week’s European Volksmarch schedule.

Pull the calendars off the walls and mark this down: The Ramstein Roadrunner’s Annual Turkey Trot is Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27. This is always an excellent walk and a good way to spend some quality family time on Thanksgiving. There will be more details as the day approaches.

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Our featured walk this week is Friday evening in Lommel, Belgium. This is a big Halloween walk. In the past, sponsors have closed the city center and had a huge party. Many houses are decorated in a Halloween theme and there is no telling what kind of creature might jump out at you as you walk through the forest. With any luck there will be a full moon!

We have done this walk several times and it’s better every year. The Tri-Border Walking Club has booked a bus this year and we are going up en masse. The start is at the Campus Mercurius near the center of town, so parking might be tight. In the past there have been some road closures near the center of town, so be flexible, look for parking signs and try to arrive early.

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Bob has been recovering from surgery, so the volksmarches have been put on hold for a while. However, it has not kept us homebound. We recently took a day trip to what has to be the newest part of Europe. We visited Lelystad, Netherlands, the capital city of Flevoland Province. After several decades of planning, dike building and pumping out water, this province, which lies 20 feet below sea level, is now flourishing with towns, farmland and nature parks.

Our first stop was at the Batavia Wharf, where we saw the museum and then toured the reconstructed 17th-century ship Batavia. The original Batavia sunk on her maiden voyage to the East Indies in 1629. Between 1985 and 1995, the current Batavia was constructed using authentic materials and original 17th-century craftsmanship. We were surprised by the cramped conditions endured by the more than 300 members of the ship’s crew and passengers. It is hard to imagine enduring several months at sea under such conditions. (Sadly, a couple of days after our visit, a fire broke out at the wharf destroying the building where the ship’s sails were stored. This loss is a serious setback to this organization staffed by volunteers and funded through visitors’ donations.)

Our next stop was the Nieuw-land Museum. There we saw how the Flevoland Province was reclaimed from the sea and grew into the prosperous area it is today. It’s amazing how the whole province was once under the ocean. The first houses were started in 1966, and the first inhabitants arrived in 1967. In 1986, Flevoland became a province. Among the many artifacts that have been recovered from the former ocean bottom were numerous wrecks of World War II aircraft and fossils from the Pleistocene Era.

After some shopping at the adjacent outlet center, it was time for dinner. Several of us ate at the Koekoekpannenkoek Restaurant, which is also a brewery that makes its own beer. The beer makes an excellent companion to the savory form of the restaurant’s Dutch pancakes, served pizza-style with meats, cheeses and vegetable combinations. (The sweet variety are available also.)

So, if you are ever in the area east of Amsterdam, we recommend a visit to Lelystad so you can enjoy this truly unique slice of Dutch history.

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• The prize at the Bad Sobernheim walk is a smiling little devil figure holding a heart that says, "I love you."

• Although no times were provided in the brochure, the Original Willstätter group will sing and play music in the Willstätt, Germany, start hall.

• The walk in Baone, Italy, is a favorite of our friend Clark Soeldner. It is on the south side of the Colle Euganei Park. There is mountain terrain, beautiful panoramas, plenty of restoros and very friendly people.

• The walk in Castegnero, Italy, is a great walk, especially if you like hills.

E-mail volksmarch information to two.walkers@yahoo.com. Mail brochures to Bob and Lorraine Huffaker, CMR 460, Box 278, APO, AE, 09703-0278.