LAW9, Pieterpad: Pieterburen - St.Pietersberg, 492 km

World famous in the Netherlands, the Pieterpad is the ideal trail to walk if you like to meet up with other hikers. On any other Dutch hiking trail you might wonder whether a living soul ever sets foot on it. Being the country's most popular trail however, the Pieterpad is frequented by scores of hikers.

Known also as LAW 9, the Pieterpad starts up north in the coastal village of Pieterburen, and takes you right across the Netherlands to its southernmost tip and only mountain, the Sint Pietersberg (110 m high). The first days you will enjoy a wide expanse of flat open fields. The middle part crosses the rather lonesome forests of Drenthe and Overijssel. The last part leads through the hill country of the southern province of Limburg.

The trail is designed in a way that after each leg of about 20 km one will find a village with accommodation and public transport. This adds to the popularity of the trail. Most hikers will walk a few days in one go, starting from where they finished the year before, and leaving the remainder of the trail for the years to come. (HN)