s**t man, I'm not one for much sentiment or behaving like a creepy stalker-type fan but I found myself making a pilgrimage to the Dutch home of Rutger Hauer today.
He died last month after a 'short illness' at his home in Beetsterzwaag in Friesland in the North of Holland.
I was a huge fan. His Roy Batty character in Bladerunner is probably his most famous role but I first saw him in a Nic Roeg mindf*ck movie called 'Eureka' when I was about 13. I was traumatised and hooked in equal measures, but have been a fan of his acting ever since. He's done some proper 'straight-to-video' crapola but his performances have always been captivating.
So, present day; I scored a mint condition Sony Walkman DD33 from a seller in Drachten. I always try and combine faraway scores with a bikeride in the area just to justify the cost of travelling there etc. It's also a great way to see parts of Holland I wouldn't otherwise make the effort to see.
So I planned to do a route which encompassed the Drents & Fries Wold National Park as well as the Dwingelderveld National Park. It's outstandingly beautiful around there and I can understand why old Rutger decided to set up camp in those parts.
I realised from reading about Rutgers death that he had a home between the seller and my bike route so decided to see if I could find it. A simple google search later revealed that his gaff was between my 2 waypoints so I set this as a stop off and went exploring.
Tbh, I was a bit maudlin, especially after I met some locals who happened to be walking past when I was in my sad geek fan mode taking pics of his front gate. One of them told me he met Rutger a few times at the local 'Witte Huis' restaurant bar and was always buying drinks and picking up the tab for elderly tourists and being a generally nice down to earth guy. Nice to hear.
Some pics from today.
Rutger's front gate. Posh.
Rutger's tradesmans entrance. I was busting for a pee so I er, took a liberty. Hugely disrespectul but he wouldn't have minded :lol:
Rutgers Dutch pad as seen from a discrete 'sad stalker fan type' distance 8)
Sustenance
Fries moo cows
A mint WM-DD33
North West Surrey
