Month: August 2010

The river Vecht has its origin in Germany, and carries the result of rainfall and melting snow to Zwolle, and finally to the IJsselmeer. Today, it is straightened out to move the water quickly. But in older days, the river took many turns, the water couldn’t move quickly enough and flooded large areas of land. Dykes have been created but the riverbed remained very wide – and occasional flooding caused teh river to take different routes after the land was flooded.
Today, the eremains of the gone area are visible in the landscape. Not always clear when walking – though the relief shows old dunes and beds, and some meanders still remain as waters in the land. But very clear when looking on old maps – and on images taken from high altitude.
Todays walk leads from Ommen to Dalfsen, from station to station; a distance of 26 kilometers, following the streambed of the old river, crossing it twice: Near Ommen to get to the Northern shore, and halway, near Holt, heading to Dalfsen through the Southern area. Passing woods on river dunes, pastures and nature conservation areas, passing a number of estates – or locations where once stood a manor.
The imaginary impressions include wide views of the landscape. The track is available in Garmin, generic and CSV formats.

A long walk, over 30 kilometers from station to station. Mainly following the Regge river, from Midden-Regge, from Nijverdal to the Overijsselsche Kanaal – from there the river is named Beneden-Regge. Some diversions passing rural areas to pass old manors, halls, some just the location remains, and some still exist.
Somewhere at the end, the camara battry was exhausted – I forgot lo load it, so the last images are taken with the phone camera…

The tracks are available in Garmin, general and CSV formats. The images can read here.

This is the first of two stages in the Reggeland area. This little river (once an important trade route) runs South to North, from the hills in Twente to Ommen where it enters the Vecht river. However, in the route we took today, the stream seemed to be opposite, probably because the Vecht had higher levels.
The area lies between the hills of Salland in the West and Twente on the Eatern banks. These are sandy grounds, but relatively more fertile. Apart from woodland and moors, agriculture has been a important for ages: grazing sheep on the moors. In winter, spinning and weaving their wool for textiles was a normal activity.
It is no surprise that, when the English inventor Thomas Ainsworth – who created the first automated looms – came to the area In the middle of the 19th century, he opened the first Dutch weaving mill in this place; the factory started the village: Nijverdal (which means “Busy Dale”) was built around this factory. Thomas lived – and died – in an estate near the village.
But today, most of this business is gone. Today, Ten Cate, one of the remaining Dutch textile companies, still has a large complex in the town.

The walk to Nijverdal follows roads and paths in an agricultural environment; just before Nijverdal, a small patch of the former marshy moorland still exists, and is crossed twice, to get to the sheepshed in the Northern area.
The route has been tracked for about one third – my batteries gave up…So the rest has been “tracked” by hand – but it is the actual route. The whole track is available in Garmin, generic and CSV formats – and of course, here are the images…

A fair day, that ended in a shower: driving to Markelo via Rijssen, to drop off our bikes near the track, where we started the walk to Nijverdal, than continued to Markelo, parking the car at the Tourist office, where we ended the fourth walk. Next, walked 16 kilometers North through the rural area between the towns, and rode back along the main road.
The images are published here, the track is available in Garmin and generic format – no CSV file, this time.