The Bog Digging Machine

They say that "God created the world, but the Dutch created Holland". Most people think of the polders and other waters which are made dry. But here it is the other way round. The grey contraption you can see here is a "bog digging machine". It was in operation until 1975 in the bog-lands around the village of Vinkeveen and the Vinkeveners earned their living with digging and selling dried peat (in Dutch "turf") for heating. What was left over was a lake with some small long-stretched islands (see the Google Earth or Google Maps references below) on which the turf was laid to dry.

The "bog digging machine" is now the main feature of the bog-museum and on September 23 this museum happened to be the host of the start of the second leg in the Turfrace (see Turfrace). The crews start running to their ships with one minute intervals. On the pano you can see the crew of the Zwaan, on the way to their ship for the 50 km return leg to Warmond. For more impressions of the whole race, see the photo-site of the Stichting Zeilvaart Warmond.

Nowadays, the Vinkeveense Plassen (as the lake is called now) is a fantastic recreational area. On the stretched islands you can see hundreds of small holiday homes and there are lots and lots of small pleasure boats around.

Europe / Netherlands

Lat: 52° 13' 17.5" N
Long: 4° 55' 57" E

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

Hardware:
Olympus E-300 with Peleng 8mm
Panosaurus on an old Velbon tripod (not handheld this time ;-))
Software:
Hugin, Pano2QTVR, Photoshop