Paul Gomes (71) keeps door all 4937 streets of Amsterdam
If I do the math, is Amsterdam actually 63 streets short for the milestone of five?
“Of course there are red streets, but streets are also falling. Just recently, all of Weesp joined in, I have already walked all the streets there. Five Amsterdam streets are now being built, I haven’t walked them yet. But we won’t reach 5000 yet, no.”
How come all this, you get up one morning and think: running through all the streets of Amsterdam, that’s my thing?
“In 1982 I took part in the first AMC run with my son. Then I didn’t do anything until 2014, when I walked the AMC loop with my grandson – great quality time. From that moment on I kept walking, but I didn’t want to do the same round, I find that boring. I like the adventure, I don’t want to know where I’m going.”
What kind of adventures do you experience?
“Sometimes I get lost, but I also stop for an ice cream, a terrace, to take a picture, for a cup of coffee. I walk according to the 14K Sports Rest Methodactually never more than an hour, and yet you build up enough fitness to run the marathon.”
And then you also keep track of all those streets?
“That likes CityStrides for me. That works very nicely.”
Which streets would you recommend to novice street collectors?
“I like the Brettenpad between Sloterdijk and Halfweg, Weesp too, the Waterland, the route along the A10 North, the many Amsterdam parks, of course a round of Sloterplas. Westpoort is where I wouldn’t recommend anyone to run.”