Appingedam is to Overschild what Roelofarendsveen is to Weteringbrug: being much larger, it offers shops, a post office, a Chinese restaurant and a choice of two supermarkets. It is in fact even larger than that, having a gardening centre and some furniture and DIY shops on its outskirts. And, unlike Roelofarendsveen, it has its own train station. Preferring trains to buses, I usually took the train there, got off at this station, walked through the shady-lanes-and-stately-houses bit through the village centre to the other side, and followed a road to a bridge that in turn led the bicycle track going straight to Overschild.
I quite like Appingedam, mostly because I don't know anyone there. It's extremely convenient for weekend shopping, the garden centre is a joy to visit and I bought some obscure old computer games there.
Shady lanes and stately houses; one is a small hotel. The white one is a relatively modern addition.
One of the supermarkets Appingedam boasts, its name - "Edah" - on the rows of red flags alongside the car park.
Stately but not in a shaded lane: coming in from the other side, the house opposite the bus station. The sign says "Farmsumerweg", which is a bit odd considering Farmsum is a different village some distance away from Appingedam. Maybe in a spirit of exchange, Farmsum has a road called "Appingedammerweg".
Looking out from the bus lanes at the bus station. The little vans to the left are the neighbourhood buses manned by volunteers, which means that they're not completely reliable. In pre-bicycle times, one of these volunteers personally drove me to Overschild in his own car after another failed to turn up due to illness, and of course no replacement had been arranged.
When I was less lucky or simply too late, the only option was the long trek on foot, starting on this road.
