Good evening to all you amazing Steemians!

I love Winter, I love snow and yes I even love ice and the fun that comes with it! When it starts to freeze my heart beats a little bit faster hoping we will have an Elf Steden tocht (Eleven cities tour). I remember waking up together with my dad at 4 am to watch the start together while we drank hot cocoa. Memories I hold close to my heart now that my dad is no longer with me.

The Eleven cities tour is a skating tour, almost 200 kilometres (120 mi) long, which is held both as a speed skating competition (with 300 contestants) and a leisure tour (with 16,000 skaters). It is held in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands, leading past all eleven historical cities of the province. The tour is held at most once a year, only when the natural ice along the entire course is at least 15 centimetres (6 in) thick! sometimes on consecutive years, other times with gaps that may exceed 20 years. When the ice is suitable, the tour is announced and starts within 48 hours. The last tour was held on Januari 4, 1997. So, it has been 21 years and I really hope one of these winters it will happen again!

I would love to think that it will happen this week but sadly Saturday the weather will take a turn to the warmer side and the ice will melt away! So, before that happened I made sure a few nice views were captured on the camera!

Pictures are taken at the nature reserve Willeskop

Willeskop is a swamp area and is also known as 'Birdland'. You can find many types of plants there, such as the real cuckoo flower, the forget-me-not and the protected swan flower. There are also many species of birds, including the white-winged tern, American teal and heron. There is so much beauty in all 4 seasons but Winter is my favorite one!

What do you call a cold ghost?
casp-burr!

So wrong, I know but I always wanted to share that one!

I hope you enjoyed the views I shared in this post! If you got frozen by just looking at these shots I advise you to take a few shots or drink hot cocoa!

Best wishes

A frozen snek also known as @poeticsnake!

Looks dangerous, you wouldn't catch me wondering about on frozen lakes! :-)

good evening dear brother @poeticsnake, amazing shots. wonderful places.

Wow amazing place and nice photography ..thanku for the sharing..@poeticsnake

This is very impressive. I envy you on this Haha. The pictures are very magnificent as well @poeticsnake ♡

That was great... I enjoyed the views you shared in this post! Hope you also enjoing the winter ....mam ❤❤❤❤❤ ... . ......

wow..
amazing Place.
thnx for shearing

That looks like so much fun! I miss running on ice, hehe. None of that here in LA. Glad the event brings back some good memories of your father :)

You made this nice piece of art even more interesting the place and this shot. Well done!
‌I am always following you

Hi snekky, You catch glorious captures in winter season. I love also winter season. Snow decorations awesome every moments. You gave very tough skating tour information. Environment change very smart. Thanks for fascinating me.

I love winter too! These pictures are cool :) That's so cool that it froze over like that!

Me jealous of that fun time looking ice rink. Weather, Nature's Zamboni Machine.

Where is willeskop? Which city/province?
Ps, ik dacht laat ik niet googlen, maar een klein beetje extra interactie geven 😁

I love natural ice too 😀😁

WOW, a 120 mile leisure tour on skates!
That must be so cool to literally skate from town to town. Personally, I've never been good on skates but I wish I was! I'd definitely venture out to participate in good community fun... And treat myself with a hot cocoa later. YUM.

I am afraid you will miss this year's "11 cities tour" again. Sorry for you about it. But warm weather will bring the spring, means the flowers all around you. Nice photos by the way. :)

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Frozen Treat Winter's Diamonds!

Good evening to all you amazing Steemians!

Pictures are taken at the nature reserve Willeskop

Best wishes