Circular walk between Warns, Laaxum and Skarl

The first part of this circular walk leads downhill from the village Warns to the hamlet of Laaxum. On your left you will see a fisherman's cottage nestled in the landscape.

Smallest fishing village in Europe

Continue towards the dike where you will see the smallest fishing village in Europe. Laaxum is a cultural and historical monument. The hamlet consists of little more than a few houses and a farm east of the dike. The fishing industry that flourished here at the start of the twentieth century went into decline after the construction of the Afsluitdijk in 1932. The small De Hang building where herring used to be salted and smoked fell into disrepair and almost collapsed. Today it houses a seafood restaurant, which opened in 2020. This saved the historic building from certain destruction. Fortunately, it is again being put to good use. From this small fishing village you can walk along the coast to It Reaklif (the Red Cliff).

Giants who lived on the cliff

It Reaklif is an intriguing place with a rich history. Some see it as just a wall of red boulder clay that has been eroded over the years. But more imaginative people like to hear the story about the giants who lived on the cliff: the fisherman Grutte Rodger and his wife Saske. Once, after three days and nights at sea, Grutte Rodger came home to find that his wife did not have a hot meal ready for him. He was so angry that he beat her until she was unconscious. The beating was so severe that his wife had to stay in bed for a while to regain her strength. Rodger regretted his outburst and nursed her until she was better. But when he went back out to sea two weeks later, Saske took her revenge. She pulled the bed out of the bedroom and asked the devil to help her turn it into a large heavy stone. As her husband sailed back the shore, she threw the bed off the cliff onto his boat, which sank to the bottom of the Zuiderzee taking Grutte with it. According to this dramatic folktale, local fishermen can still point out the spot where Grutte Rodger sank with his boat.

Stone Age finds

From It Reaklif you continue on to Skarl. The village that once stood here was larger than Laaxum. Yet today there is very little to see as you walk past. Just a few farms on a quiet road and wind turbines spinning in the distance. Behind them, the hill and the village of Warns come back into view. The people who live there claim that it is the most beautifully situated village in the Netherlands. Warns, Laaxum and Skarl all lie on a moraine ridge that was inhabited early on. Ancient settlements and stone tools used by hunters and gatherers in the Middle Stone Age (8800-4900 BC) have been discovered between Skarl and Warns. The walk ends back in Warns, where it started.