(HIER die deutsche Version)
It all began a good year and a half ago with a technical marvel that I found, and still find, fascinating and astonishing: a video conference between Fred Kuipers, Ernst Bieber and myself.
Fred was in the Czech Republic, Ernst in Austria and I was at home in Langweer, Friesland, but we could hear and see each other just as clearly as if we were in the same room! It will come as no surprise to anyone that our conversation was about Tatra. The next TFI meeting would take place in Anger, Ernst told me. And the following year it would be another country’s turn, as is customary with Tatra Friends International. The Netherlands had hosted the event before – I remembered Lekkerkerk and Noordwijk aan Zee – but the last time had been about ten or eleven years ago. Might it be an idea to host the 2026 meeting in our country again? After some hesitation, I agreed. That meant I would have to go to Anger in 2025 to deliver the invitation in person. And that, in turn, meant I would need to have at least a rough programme ready by then so I could present it in Austria! Fortunately, I have extensive organisational experience, and with the support of the TRN and TFI, I was confident that everything would work out.
The very first thing is to organise the accommodation. It simply won’t work without hotel rooms for around sixty participants. You then plan the excursions and routes from the accommodation. In doing so, you have to take into account the magnificent but slower pre-war cars which, as experience shows, are always present at TFI meetings, even abroad. For larger groups like this, particularly in Friesland, there’s no getting round Van der Valk. Not cheap, but good and certainly big enough. What’s more, TFI attaches importance to a certain standard. Bunk beds in a youth hostel are out of the question from the outset! My first thought was the Van der Valk in Sneek. It’s a particularly lovely place, and many attractions are easily accessible by car. I asked for a quote, but was so shocked by the price of the accommodation that Sneek was immediately ruled out. As it turned out, there are expensive and budget Van der Valk branches, and Sneek was undoubtedly one of the (very) expensive ones. Van der Valk in Hurdegaryp was a possible alternative. It’s in the countryside, but not too far from Leeuwarden, which also has plenty of sights to see. Unfortunately, the hotel was due to be renovated the following year, so the Ascension Day period was out of the question. However, I was told that the Van der Valk Hotel in Drachten was also one of the more affordable branches! (Just a thought: when the royal family recently celebrated King’s Day in Friesland, they also stayed at the Van der Valk Hurdegaryp. Do the Oranjes have to watch their spending too?)
I decided to take a look at the hotel in Drachten and got in touch with them. The lady in charge of group bookings was friendly and helpful. She showed me around the hotel and promised us a private room for dinner and other activities. When it then turned out that the room rates were a whopping seventy euros per night cheaper (!) than in Sneek and that meal packages were available, I made up my mind and booked thirty rooms for us until the end of March. It turned out to be just enough, partly because some people only booked on the last day and everything was already fully booked by then. One person was left empty-handed; luckily, I was able to organise a guesthouse nearby for him.
So, over the Ascension Day weekend in 2025, I was in Anger and invited the TFI members to the Netherlands. Armed with a PowerPoint presentation and a Frisian flag, I managed to get people excited, and many agreed on the spot, even though I had neither mountains nor steam locomotives to offer, unlike the Austrian programme.
A promise is a promise, so a year of preparations followed. Just try booking a tour boat at the last minute! It won’t work – everything will be fully booked. That’s why you really do need to book the date months in advance. The lovely people at Princenhof Boat Tours in Earnewâld are happy to reserve a boat for me, provided I can guarantee at least 55 participants. So far, however, I haven’t received a single booking, as the invitation won’t go online until the new year. All right then, I’ll take the risk.
Ernst assures me that 55 is no problem. And he’s right. In the end, there are 69 participants, although not everyone takes part in every part of the programme.
The world-famous Eise Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s absolutely well-deserved and justified, but in the past you could simply buy a ticket there. Now it’s so busy that you can only book tickets in advance for a specific time slot. Fortunately, Scherjon and the ‘Korenmolen’ are much more flexible. They take a proactive approach. Nevertheless, I’m still making a lot of phone calls and sending emails during this phase…
Lunch is important too. Right, everything’s sorted for Saturday. But we need to be able to do something on Friday as well. Weeks in advance, I pop along to Eetcafé De Kromme Knilles in Akkrum to try out the lunch menu. The café has a separate room, and we’ll be welcome there. So far, so good.
But when the time comes months later and it turns out that a motorbike club also wants to have lunch at the same time and the kitchen is a bit overwhelmed, a bit of chaos ensues. Still, the staff are friendly, the situation can be sorted out, the soup tastes good, and there are even croquettes left over after an initial bottleneck that I frantically tried to resolve. Fortunately, I don’t know any of this at this stage. Looking back, I mainly see Czechs happily enjoying large glasses of beer and typical Dutch snacks…
The invitations will be sent out in the new year. Our incomparable *Nieuwsblad* is giving the upcoming meeting plenty of coverage, and the TFI website makes it easy with an online registration form, a link to the hotel for discounted rooms, and a detailed programme overview. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for our own TRN website. The lack of a competent webmaster is painfully evident. However, I can take the opportunity during our New Year’s gathering to invite our members. Registrations are coming in from the Czech Republic, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy and also from our own country. I am delighted to welcome everyone, but especially our Dutch participants. Among them are first-time attendees such as the Koel family’s brand-new Tatra, the magnificent but rarely seen T75 belonging to Gerrit van der Maat and Stien de Vries, the rare Tatra 87 owned by Jelle Venema, and the beautifully restored T603 belonging to our treasurer, Camiel de Leeuw. Kees Smits’ T12, as well as Cees Koel’s Tatra 603 (driven by Marije and Wouter) and my own, complete the Dutch Tatra contingent.
The meet-up is slowly but surely drawing nearer, and it’s time to plan the routes. The destinations are set, and the schedule more or less too. Routes only really take shape once you’ve driven them. And that’s exactly what we’re doing. Together with my friends Bauke and Wieb Bos, both keen owners of several classic cars (albeit not Tatras). We’re out and about on several Sundays, armed with maps and notebooks. Bauke drives, I take notes. I have to type up these scrawled notes from the moving car that very same evening, ideally with Google Street View to hand, otherwise the route can’t be reconstructed!
But the real work still lies ahead: everything has to be turned into a usable roadbook. This requires lots of special symbols, such as arrows and roundabouts, and they all have to be entered individually in the right place. I can do the translations into German and English myself, but Czech is a different story. I try out an online translation service and send a sample of the result to Fred Kuipers in Valašské Meziříčí. His verdict is damning: useless! Fortunately, he’s then willing to take care of the translation himself. The printers only accept PDFs, so I quickly learn how it works. I discuss the design for the rally sign and the beautiful, heavy metal badge – which participants usually receive at the end of the event – with graphic designer Manfred Haspel. My 613 is to be featured on it, and yes, I’d also like the clogs on the rally sign! A thousand things I have to think about. Pick up the bags with the tourist information from the tourist office and buy a packet of stroopwafels from Lidl for each bag. A tasty and typically Dutch surprise never goes amiss, does it? Hopefully the budget will stretch.
Ascension Day! The time has come! My 603 and I are ready! The day the TFI meet begins! And, as every year, the classic car festival is taking place in Hoornsterzwaag. Once a modest gathering for Eastern European vehicles in a field behind the JAWA importer De Haan, it has since developed into the biggest classic car spectacle in the north, with hundreds of participants, aeroplanes, demonstrations, stuntmen, motocross and a full fairground. In the invitation, I drew the TFI participants’ attention to this event. Attendance is free. It becomes clear to me right at the entrance that at least some have accepted the invitation, as the announcer introduces the cars to the audience. “Another Tatra!” he shouts. I’ve never heard that before. At most classic car meets, I’m the only one driving a Tatra! And sure enough, over the course of the morning I spot four foreign Tatras, including a beautiful 1931 T57 Sport and the extremely rare 603 Type 1 – with three headlights – owned by Manfred Haspel.
At around 3 pm, we set off for Drachten to welcome the participants of the TFI meet-up. Several Tatras are already parked in the large car park of the Van der Valk Hotel. Some arrived a day early, which is hardly surprising given the long journeys some have had to make. A joyful reunion follows!
Registration, the handing out of bags, roadbooks, rally plates and so on all go quickly and smoothly thanks to Ernst, Bauke and Wieb. Personally, after a stay in hospital and rehab, I’m not quite as nippy on my feet with the walker. So, together with some Czech friends, I soon find myself enjoying a large beer at the bar and welcoming the arriving participants from home and abroad. Svend’s Dutch is getting better and better. Luckily, I still know a bit of Danish. That’s just part of it when you only meet once a year! But among like-minded people, you simply pick up where you left off last year.
In the evening, there are many warm words of welcome in the dining room. Personally, I am delighted to meet the friendly Krystof, a Czech lad who speaks perfect German and is willing and able to translate my German into Czech. He will be indispensable over the coming days, and I am very grateful to him!
The food is, as expected, more than excellent, and the dessert buffet with its delicious ice cream is particularly well received. Afterwards, we chat until the early hours of the morning before peace and quiet returns. But tomorrow we’re off early!
After a hearty breakfast and before setting off, we hold a brief briefing for the riders. As I assume that the Dutch and Danes speak German, I speak in German. Krystof translates for the Czechs. I warn them about the exorbitant fines in the Netherlands, tell them that E98 premium petrol is rarely available, and point out that cyclists are always in the right, even when they’re in the wrong. Then we set off for Franeker, the longest stage of the day at around 55 km. Naturally, we avoid motorways and seek out the small side roads instead. Yes, there are windmills along the route too! Thanks to Bauke and Wieb, plenty of parking spaces have been reserved for us in Franeker. A spot full of Tatras quickly attracts attention! We stroll through the town a little on our way to the planetarium. Everyone is thrilled by this 18th-century technical masterpiece, the oldest functioning planetarium in the world. But the town itself, with its canals and the beautiful Renaissance town hall dating from 1591, also draws admiration, and many combine their visit with a spontaneous stroll.
On our way to lunch in Akkrum, we get caught in a few heavy rain showers. Whilst the weather had been so lovely and sunny in the week leading up to this weekend, the Ice Saints are now making their presence felt! It’s really cold at times. Unfortunately, I can organise anything and everything, except the weather… However, hot soup, croquettes and bread rolls quickly warm us up again.
Next stop is the NSU Legends Museum, a private collection belonging to Mr Hette Knijpstra. I met him through mutual acquaintances, and he thought it would be a good and entertaining idea to pop round with the Tatras. After all, both car brands offer vehicles with air-cooled rear engines! As an extra surprise for the participants, two Tatra lorries registered in the Netherlands are waiting in the museum. These are admired at length. They are workhorses, not showpieces like our cars! It was very kind of the drivers to drop by with their tippers! One even came straight from work! Many thanks to Jan Noppert and his colleagues!
As well as a range of cars, the NSU Museum houses a large and unique collection of motorcycles. There is a workshop and a small bar with a café. Even special vehicles, such as a racing car, are suspended from the ceiling. Mr Knijpstra himself is also a keen Tatra enthusiast. Both outside and inside, the place is teeming with car enthusiasts. In the car park, there is even a yellow Ro80 – a car we are naturally familiar with, as one of our members also owns one – parked next to a 603. I once had the pleasure of riding along with Pieter Jolke in his Ro80. When I went to pay Mr Knijpstra at the end of the visit, another pleasant surprise awaited me. The answer can be summed up in one word: nothing! A generous gesture for which we are very grateful.
We drive leisurely through Friesland, past the wooded surroundings of the elegant town of Beetsterzwaag, back to the hotel, and this time we are spared the downpours. In the evening, we enjoy a cosy get-together. For entertainment, I’ve put together a PowerPoint quiz with a computer-savvy friend, Klaas de Jong, featuring various types of questions designed to be as international as possible. Now the Dutch probably know who Clown Ferdinand is too… Hopefully everyone enjoyed it!
We’ll be getting up early on Saturday morning, as we’re expected at Scherjon’s Klompenmakerij in Noardburgum. It’s not far, but afterwards we’ve got a boat trip from Earnewâld. That’s quite a bit further, and the boat won’t wait!
The visit to Scherjon is a complete success. It doesn’t get more typically Dutch than this. Krystof translates again during the tour. Here, clogs are made on often ancient machines and partly by hand, and painted in the typical Scherjon style. Hundreds of tree trunks lie outside, waiting to be turned into clogs. The fact that clogs are now officially classified as safety footwear comes as a surprise to many!
We are surprised by a journalist from the Leeuwarder Courant, Friesland’s largest regional daily newspaper. He has heard about our gathering and has come along with a photographer to take a look at the whole thing. Among others, Thomas Gabel, Ernst Bieber and I are interviewed, and the photographer goes to great lengths to capture our special vehicles in the best light. The following Monday, we appear in the newspaper with a photo, and there are many more pictures to discover on the LC website. It’s great publicity for our Tatra brand.
Before we continue our journey to Earnewâld, lots of people visit the shop, and so several pairs of genuine Frisian clogs are heading off to the Czech Republic and Austria!
The Princenhof boat company’s car park offers plenty of space for all the Tatras, Josef’s classic VW Beetle (built in 1950) and Jan Kocian’s Jaguar. Before we board, we admire and photograph all the cars once more. Apparently, we never tire of doing so! This certainly applies to Pim van der Kleij’s gorgeous 603 Type 1 as well; he isn’t taking part in the meet, but he’s dropped by anyway. Two 603s with the original three headlights together must surely be a rarity!
On board, we’re welcomed with coffee and cake. Once the boat has set sail for a trip across the Frisian lakes, windmills, villages and vast green meadows dotted with horses or cows glide quietly past us. It’s a shame the weather barely allows us to sit comfortably on deck, but it’s cosy in the cabin, and soon the beer and soft drinks are flowing freely again. We have lunch on board, and it tastes good. How did that song go again? A boat trip is fun, a boat trip is lovely….
Back in Earnewâld, we continue on to Surhuisterveen, where we visit the Feanster Moune, officially known as Nôtmûne Koartwâld – an octagonal tower mill which, together with the neighbouring mill, has been a landmark of the Frisian village since 1864. We are greeted by the turning sails and a friendly miller. Many climb right to the top to see the grinding mechanism in action or venture out onto the high gallery. Little Daniël turns out to be a budding miller! Enthusiastically, he grinds grain between two millstones, demonstrating the principle of the grain mill. On leaving, every visitor receives a small bag of flour – a lovely souvenir. Has anyone baked with it yet?
Following the excellent Van der Valk dinner, the final evening is already upon us.
There’s always a touch of wistfulness about it. It will surely be another year or more before we all meet again. There are some heartfelt words of thanks, the lovely commemorative plaques are handed out and, last but not least, the invitation for next year is announced! We’re off to Carinthia in Austria, and everyone is warmly invited!
I thoroughly enjoyed organising this meet-up. It took over a year’s work, but fortunately I had plenty of support. I would like to extend my special thanks to Ernst Bieber, Bauke and Wieb Bos, Camiel de Leeuw, Fred Kuipers, Klaas de Jong, Mr Hette Knijpstra, Manfred Haspel, Jan Noppert and everyone else who helped make it a success.
An international meet-up is something quite special. I can only recommend it to everyone, as it offers the chance to meet Tatra enthusiasts from many countries, see unique vehicles that you would otherwise almost never see outside the Czech Republic, enjoy a great atmosphere and make international friends. So, Carinthia next year? As they say in Friesland: ‘Net stinne, mar hinne!’ – don’t hesitate, just go!
Peter Visser