A man from Zwaag spent his Saturday evening visiting a friend in Anna Paulowna (and his Sunday morning walking nearly 40 kilometres home after missing the last train).
The man cycled to Anna Paulowna station after a night of drinking, hoping to catch the last train back to Hoorn.
In a nightmare scenario that we have all faced at some point, he realised he had missed it.
However, rather than ring his wife or look for alternatives, he set off on foot into the dark. With his phone switched off, might we add.
Police launched a full search
By Sunday morning, his wife had heard nothing. No call, no message, no sign of him.
She contacted the police, who kicked off a search across the region, checking roadsides, ditches, waterways, and stations in Anna Paulowna. Officers in Hoorn swept the area around that station, too.
At one point, police were even considering whether he’d fallen asleep on a train and woken up in Nijmegen. A reasonable theory, all things considered.
He made it home
After hours of searching, the man’s wife contacted the police again. Her husband had made it back to their house in Zwaag.
He had walked for eight hours on foot, covering roughly 40 kilometres from Anna Paulowna to his front door.
READ MORE | A guide to night buses and night trains in the Netherlands
The police noted, with what one imagines was a very specific tone, that he arrived home “sober, at least.”
Would you cover 40 kilometres on foot rather than pay for an Uber? Let us know in the comments (no judgement).
