A 29-year-old Dutch man attempted to walk from Gouda to Weesp, a route of 54 kilometres, after trains were cancelled due to a major snowstorm. The situation had been stable in the morning, but he had not envisioned such a rapid change in meteorological conditions come evening.
The circumstances made it even more difficult: it was snowing heavily, and temperatures dipped below -5°C, national broadcaster NOS reports. The walk would take him 11 hours.
The man called his mother when he had made it halfway to tell her that he was hiking home, suffering from hypothermia and felt completely exhausted. They line then broke up, and his mother called emergency services for help.
Police scoured the area with boots on the ground and a helicopter, and located the man off a bicycle path outside Weesp. Apart from hypothermia, the man was found to be stable and quickly reunited with his family.
