The mound with the Sint-Nicolaaskerk offers a view over a sea of grass on three sides. A sea in the form of water is not available this deep in the Frisian inland. That Het Ziltepad passes through Hijum seems misplaced at first glance. As if a wrong turn was taken, yet Hijum emerged on the banks of the Boarne estuary, which later in the Middle Ages grew into the Middelzee. A deep sea inlet that separated the main Frisian regions of Oostergo and Westergo and could be quite treacherous.
