Starting out in a primary school in Veenendaal, today’s walk went into the woods – and on this area of the Utrechtse heuvelrug, it means going up and down. Not steep, but going up or down for a long time. The first and last few kilometers are over paved roads. Of course, you have to get through the outskitrs of Veenendaal, but once outside, you get on forest roads and paths through the woodland. The point for rest (and coffee) was on the high point at Kwintelooijen – about 50 meters over the Gelderse Vallei, looking out over Veenedaal, Ede and, in the distance, Wageningen. From here, we made a large loop over the Remmerden Forest – dogs not allowed: cattle greezing – and back to Kwintelooijen for a second rest, and the last part – downhill and into Veenendaal again.
The loop follows part of the Trekvogelpad between Amerongen and Rhenen – the part we didn’t do yet.
I took a few images, but tracked the whole route, downloadable in Garmin, GPX and CSV formats, as usual
Month: March 2008
Walking straight
We kept close to home today: a walk from Zeist to Austerlitz and back, through woods and along patches to become heatrer patches again in a few years: Trees cut and removing the top layer of soil, which is too fertile – grass and trees will grow too fast and suppress any new developing heather. I think sheep will graze on these patches to keep grass and trees short, in one spot they already do and this is the part where no dogs are allowed
Most of the route is over unpaved forest roads, sometimes one side is hardened by shells, for cyclists.
Al in all about 25 kilometers – 13 to the rest in Austerlitz, and a bit shorter back to out starting point.
I took some pictures on the road, and kept track in Garmin, general and CSV format
Dancing trees and artwork
In one of the magazines I’m subscribed to, there was this walk in the largest beech forest in the Netherland, between the hamlet of Drie and Garderen – in the midst of the Veluwe. The biggest of them being a beacon for sailors for ages, the largest, straightest trees have been cut for their wood and the curly ones survived. In earlier days, when traveling through these forests, these seemed to dance in the little light spread by torch and lantern, and the shadows that were the result of movements. That’s what caused the folklore names: “The Forest of the Dancing Trees”.
Within the forest there are quarters with different trees: oak, fir, pine and lork, each with their own character, which gives the walk some relieve form monotony.
Along the road images have been carved in the trunks of cut-off trees, of animals that are the silent but busy workers in the forest – any forest – to digest fallen leaves and other material to become nutrient for the trees.
Another walk from the same starting location headed North, again mainly by woodland, to the heather fields, usually used by military for training driver skills in rough terrain, but clear from vehicals during the weekends.
This time I took my little camera – and here is the result of both walks.
I translated the walk into waypoints to be loaded into my Garmin GPS, as well tracked our walks. The waypoints can be downloaded in Garmin,GPX and CSV format. If you prefer to follwo our steps, download the tracks in Garmin, general GPS or CSV format
Wijk en Aalburg
Today, we walked in an area we’ve never walked before: The polders of “het land van Altena”, the most western of the low lands between the rivers Waal and Maas. This walk is about 25 kilometers, and, different of what we’re used to, not signposted, we had to read the directions from the description this time. In itself, the description was usually very clear, the biggest problem in th village itself was that notifications of street names were either missing, or could only be found when walking on – or back. Once outside the village, there was little that could go wrong – long stretches over and below the Maas dike (on the land side, alas), and over small roads in a flat, agricultural landscape, on tarmac roads (except for an occasional brick road).
We had our stop for refreshments after 15 kilometers, in the village of Genderen, in a village cafe.
Weather: Sunny, some clouds, strong south-westerly wind – at least half the route, we had to walk against it – and a nice temperature, especially when out of the wind, or with the wind in your back.
No images taken – but the tracks are – as ususal – available in Garmin, in generic and .CSV format, as well in pictural format