Month: October 2007

The stage from East to West crosses the low lands between the rivers Hollandsche IJssel and Lek. It’s a long one: a 43 kilometers walk between IJsselstein and Oudekerk aan de IJssel, but it’s well dividable in two: Ijsselstein to Vlist and Vlist to Oudererk – both about 22 kilometers. The only disadvantage is shortage of public transport: one or two busses during the week, one on Saturday and none on Sundays. (In this part of the country, there is hardly any activity on Sundays except going to church).
We took our bikes, parked them between Polsbroek and Vlist so we cycled back to IJsselstein, another 18 kilometers.

This is mainly a course following the ribbons of old dykes dividing the polders: straight, up-leveled lanes of trees in otherwise low, flat, treeless grasslands, only sometimes a farm or decoy breaks the wideness of the view. Villages here similar: longstretched ribbons of farms along both sides of a canal, as you will find out walking this route. You’ll see some farmhouses built about 300 years ago, and still in good shape.

Since most of the path is over the dykes, there are a lot of pictures showing the different looks of the path, some biews since most is blinded by the trees on both sides, and some others where the wall of trees is opened, and in dome taken in the villages we passed. You’ll find them here, as well as the Garmin, GPX and CSV formatted files.

This is the officially first leg of this roundwalk. We made this one this Sunday because it is the shortest (15 Km), Franka should be in good shape on Monday (agility training, a longer walk might cuase early exhaustion), and because there is no trouble in traveling between end and start. We parked the car on the P&R site in Zoetermeer, took the train to Delft (over The Hague CS) and walked back.

The route is easy. It’s pretty handy to have the booklet at hand in Delft because signalling is sometimes missing, or obscured. Also, part of the route was blocked to due work on a bridge, and a diversion was not signposted at all (it hardly ever will be) but getting around it was easy – having the booklet…
At some places, you have to take a good look where to go – again, is is advisable to have the booklet at hand.

The only stop underway is a “teahouse” named “Het Rieten Dak” (“The Thathed Roof”), refreshments can be obtained halfway in Pijnacker but you will have to get off the route. You won’t find anything en route in Zoetermeer either.

These are the images giving an impression of the area, and the tracks are available in GPX and CSV-format.

The booklet “Groene Hart Pad” (Streekpad 12) is published by NIVON (2004), ISBN 90-70601 85 0. It contains descriptions, maps and general information.

A walk of about 25 kilometers, following the Valleikanaal direction Veenendaal – but turning right at the end to return over the old railroad track. It was a bit of a guess, on the Dutch TOPO maps of my Garmin gear it did show a track, but it doesn’t tell whether there is a right of way.
The track exsists, all right, and when I didn’t had my dog with me, I could have taken the last part just before Woudenberg – but the sign said “no dogs allowed”. Seen from that point, I couldn’t have taken the path from Veenendaal either, but at that side,m there was no sign telling me so. At least, I didn’t notice.

It was a fine, rather warm day, with a lot of sunshine. Because most of the track on the dyke, and certainly on the old railwaytrack are shaded by trees, it wasl well doable. In wet weather however, parts of the tracks van be wet and slippery.

Here are pictures giving an impression of this track; also available are GPX and CSV files.

A regional path that leads the wanderer through a lot of landscapes that are “typically Dutch” : Flat, green wet (lots of water), squeezed between urban areas: The lungs of the city. The route officially starts and ends in Delft, but since it goes round you can start anywhere.
To day we made our first stretch: the area along Ouder Rijn and Hollandsche IJssel: From Woerden by Montfoort to IJsselstein, just west of Utrecht – a walk said to be 20 Kms. We made it 24 – because signalling is at times missing, especially near Woerden, and at some places you really need the booklet. Or these tracks 🙂 – I removed the wrong paths.

As ususal, there si a pictural impression, and the tracks are available in GDB, GPX and CSV format