For this very very cold tuesday.
http://www.pbase.com/image/107839168It is freezing cold and in the Netherlands everybody hopes for an "Elfstedentocht"
The Elfstedentocht (English translation: "Journey of Eleven Cities") is a speed skating competition and leisure skating tour held irregularly in the province of Friesland, Netherlands.
The tour, almost 200 km in length, is conducted on frozen canals, rivers and lakes between the eleven Frisian cities: Leeuwarden, Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker, Dokkum and finally again Leeuwarden. The tour is not held every year, mostly because not every Dutch winter permits skating on natural ice. Actually the last one was held in 1997. Adding to that, the tour currently features about 15,000 amateur skaters taking part, putting high requirements on the quality of the ice. There is a stated regulatory requirement for the race to take place that the ice must be (and remain at) a minimum thickness of 15 centimetres along the entirety of the course.
Fingers crossed!!!