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Arnout Hauben travels through the Netherlands and Belgium with Philippe Niclaes and Ruben Callens. In his own unique way, he speaks to people he meets along the way and looks for stories that have given color to our regions.
2024
Arnout Hauben is getting ready to walk through the Netherlands and Belgium one more time. From Lauwersoog he leaves for De Panne in Belgium in the company of cameraman Philippe Niclaes and soundman Ruben Callens. Their first stages take them through Friesland, where they meet the quirky but friendly inhabitants. In Dokkum, Arnout goes looking for a piece of the skull of Saint Boniface, a missionary who was not really warmly received by the Frisians in the 8th century.
When Arnout leaves Friesland behind him and enters Drenthe, he hears a lion roaring in the forest. After some searching, Arnout and his friends end up in an animal shelter where traumatized animals from all over the world find a new home. In Wilhelminaoord, in the last century, no animals, but poor families and vagabonds were sheltered in the Colony of Benevolence. The people here could literally work their way out of poverty by working the land. Arnout speaks with the very last wanderer of Wilhelminaoord, who proves to be difficult to tame.
When Arnout leaves Friesland behind him and enters Drenthe, he hears a lion roaring in the forest. After some searching, Arnout and his friends end up in an animal shelter where traumatized animals from all over the world find a new home. In Wilhelminaoord, in the last century, no animals, but poor families and vagabonds were sheltered in the Colony of Benevolence. The people here could literally work their way out of poverty by working the land. Arnout speaks with the very last wanderer of Wilhelminaoord, who proves to be difficult to tame....
On his journey through the Low Countries, Arnout crosses the heart of the old, rich Holland. In Muiden he passes the beautiful castle of the famous Count Floris V, who controlled shipping traffic on the Vecht from here. When Arnout sees Sinterklaas' boat in the lock, he has no hesitation and jumps aboard this sailing piece of youth sentiment. In Woerden, Arnout delves into the city's cheese traditions, but that is not to the liking of sound engineer Ruben, who suffers from a cheese allergy...
Arnout crosses De Biesbosch National Park and looks for beavers. But they are not so easy to film. Sound man Ruben leaves a camera in the park and hopes to have better luck during the night. In Willemstad, Arnout speaks with the very last witnesses of the Rhenus 127 disaster. That was a ship full of Belgian prisoners of war that struck a mine near the city during the Second World War...
Arnout leaves the Netherlands behind and crosses the border with Belgium at the Kalmthoutse Heide. At the military airport of Brasschaat he looks for the owner of an old army plane that turns out to have a special history. In the St. Paul's Church, in the middle of the red light district of Antwerp, Arnout stares at the beautiful medieval paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck and Jordaens. These masterpieces were saved by the neighborhood's prostitutes and students in 1969 when the church was in danger of burning down...
Arnout crosses the Demer Valley and arrives in the Flemish Ardennes: the setting of the Flemish cycling classics. In Geraardsbergen, Arnout and his friends exchange their walking shoes for a racing bike to climb the legendary Muur, just like countless cyclists have done before them. They continue along the language border to Amougies. This small, rural village is known as the Woodstock of the Low Countries after it was overrun by 70,000 hippies in 1969.
In the last episode, Arnout crosses the Westhoek where there was hard fighting during the First World War. Not only are the cemeteries a reminder of that dark period, but the traces of the front line are still clearly visible on the De Palingbeek golf course. In the last café on the route, Arnout and his friends drink a Picon and celebrate their friendship. After 1,000 long kilometers, the end point of their journey through the Low Countries is finally in sight: the North Sea coast of De Panne.
For those who cannot get enough of ‘Dwars door de Lage Landen’, there is this episode full of never-before-seen encounters, unexpected scenes and touching moments not yet seen in previous broadcasts.
2022
The adventure starts on the beach of Ostend and from there Arnout Hauben continues through the Flemish polders. In Meetkerke he meets Amedé, who used to pump water from the polders to drain the land.
The journey continues through the Waasland towards Antwerp. In Klinge, Arnout Hauben and his friends pass a remnant of the Death Wire, the electrical barrier that separated the Netherlands and Belgium during the First World War. On the Left Bank they rest on the beach of Sint Anneke. Finally, in the catacombs of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Arnout discovers a unique art treasure that tells about the wealth of the city.
Arnout, Philippe and Ruben cross the sandy Kempen. At the Kleine Nete they pass a crab catching station. Arnout then visits some old friends in Geel: Rob and Eddy. Fifteen years ago he made a documentary about family nursing in Geel, in which the pair played a leading role. In the abbey of Tongerlo, Arnout comes face to face with Da Vinci's Last Supper, and in Westerlo he meets Prince Simon de Merode, who invites him to his castle. The prince's ancestors appear to have played an important role in the creation of Belgium.
In Bolderberg, Arnout, Ruben and Philippe are staying in the hotel that was the setting for the largest art theft in the history of the Low Countries in the 1970s. In Genk, Arnout delves into the mining past. He meets the very last coal farmer who keeps the very last bags of real Limburg coal.
Arnout, Ruben and Philippe cross the border with the Netherlands and arrive in Limburg. They climb the Sint-Pietersberg and go to the official end point of the Pieterpad. They will follow this path for 500 kilometers to the far north of the Netherlands. Arnout explores Fort Sint Pieter and discovers a labyrinth of underground tunnels. The three friends travel via Sittard to small Montfort and meet Mientje. She remembers as if it were yesterday how a heavy bombing at the end of the Second World War changed her life forever.
Arnout Hauben and his friends arrive in Tienray. During the Second World War, 123 Jewish children were taken care of here. A little further on in Groesbeek, Arnout and his friends walk past a replica of a glider from the Second World War. They meet Nelly Kerkhoff, who witnessed the fighting of Operation Market Garden up close.
Arnout, Ruben and Philippe arrive in the Achterhoek. In Gaanderen they are welcomed by a musician who sings a song in Low Saxon. In Laren they have coffee with a baroness who spent her childhood at Verwolde Castle. On the Sallandse Heuvelrug, Arnout meets Suzanne, a shepherdess who exchanged her ten-storey flat in the Bijlmer for a life close to nature. Things are less quiet in Hellendoorn, where the three end up on an extremely hard motocross.
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Arnout Hauben
Philippe Niclaes
Ruben Callens
