After two weeks of snow, freeze and thaw – causing iced roads and paths hard to pass – we had a rather short walk in the woods and drfting sands near Kootwijk, using a GPS route I downloaded rather some time ago from the site of the Dutch State Forestry Deparment.
Most roads are free of slippery parts, but the inland road to the parking place was very, very slippery. Soon we found out that some parts of the paths were like icetracks as well. Since half of the route was over the open sands, it was reckoned to be rather easy to pass – and in some rspect, it was. but it was a shallow layer of sand that was frozen, and the layers below were as loose as ever, so the 10 kilometer walk seemed as heavy as a 20 kilometer one.
A few images have been taken to give you an impression of the wideness of the area – and I have published the tracks in Garmin, Generic and CSV formats.
Tag: Gelderland
Woods in Winter
Last week a lot of snow has fallen, and temperatures dropped to -16 during the night.
Today, we decided to take a 25 kilometer walk from Putten, set up by a wanderer’s association. It lead us troght the woods to Garderen, where we had a rest in De Bonte Koe, and back; in nice sunny weather, with temperatures well below zero: When we started in Putten, it was -10, and when we arrived after our walk, it was -8.
A tough walk, because the frozen ground was very uneven, and at times slippery; and the dog neede attention once in a while: snow accumulated bwteen it’s toes and formed marbels – hard to walk on, so these had to be removed at times.
But we made the whole walk – and I had time to shoot some images. The walk has been tracked: the data is available in Garmin, general and Excel formats.
Groesbeek-Gennep-Vierlingsbeek
There is still a gap within the Southern Pieterpad to cover: We’ve done Vorden to Groesbeek, and Venlo to Sittard, so still had to walk the route between Groesbeek and Venlo. The whole lot means walking more than one day, it’s over 40 kilometers. Today we made a start, spanning two walks – one of 14 and one of 16 – into one day. Starting where we ended in Groesbeek before, we went to Gennep and from there to Vierlingsbeek. Due to it’s length, we paused three times – tha last near the official ending for today, but we still had to do another 1.5 kilometer to the station to head back to where we started, by trains and bus.
Though the day started with some drizzle underway, the sky cleared en route, and with after a cloudy afternoon, the walk finished as it started: under bright skies.
The landscapes are mixed – woodland and meadows, hilly and flat. The area surrounding Groesbeek is relatively high, cut with gullies and so offers non-Dutch panoramas and valleys – something you would expect in the outmost southern realms of Limburg.
Since today’s walk is part of the Pieterpad, it’s information (inclusing the full track) is found on the Pieterpad pages.
Ugchelen
A group from Utrecht, named DES, organizes walks in this area (just South of Apeldoorn) every year, in several distances: 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 kilometers. Actually, most of the routes are along the same paths, tracks and roads, and extra loops would increase the distance, and shortcuts shorten your walk.
Since this was one of two closest to home today, and one we hadn’t done for some time, we decided to take the 20-km route, starting and ending in the gym in the village of Ugchelen, but we encountered some parkins en route, so you could start anywhere along the way. I didn’t see a pub on the route, the organization had a temporary rest at Caesarea, a building of the Salvation Army, at 6, and 16 kilometers.
These walks are forest walks, in different types of woodland, and with sunny intervals, the autumn colours were very brighht and the walk was nicer than expected. I didn’t bring a camera so you’ll have to do with the track-projections on Garmin’s TopoNL maps and GoogleEarth – on which I also show where the extra loops for 15 and 30 kilometers are located – that is: where I think these are.
Tracking data is, as ususal, available in Garmin, generic and CSV fomats.
Vorden-Doetinchem
This is the first stage of the Southern Pieterpad. I’ve started this some time ago but had to head back, this time we made it all the way down – 24 kilometers or so.
Halfway we found a rest in the restaurant on a bungalow park – not easy to find but looking around at the crossing, we found the entrance into the park – no admittance, officially, but heading for the restaurant was allowed. That would be a nice location to stay overnight, the landlord has some ideas but the owner of the park objects….
The first part of this walk has been logged before, and since it’s part of the Pieterpad, today’s information (inclusing the full track) is found on the Pieterpad pages.
Veluwezoom
A Cycletour based on GPS waypoints.
Starting at a locatiojn just outside Dieren, it leads into National Park veluwezoom, mainly woodland. First stop was the former farm Carolina Hoeve – now a restaurant. Next the route leads the highest point of the area, where a tower of 50 m offers a clear view of most of the South-Eastern Veluwe; used to watch for wildfires in this wooded (and often very dry) area of the country. From there, the route zigzags to the village of Loenen, where we took a detour to visit the War Cemetery for civilians that died in captivity of due to acts of resistion during the Second Worldwar. With a large bend the route returns to Dieren – part of which we walked in spring, under different conditions.
Images are available – as well as the tracking data in Garmin and General formats, and the waypoints in CSV format.
Warnsborn
This is a route following GPS-waypoints; it can be downloaded from the site of the Dutch railways. Starting at the Arnhem railway station, it passes one of the cities parks (Zijpedael, part of Park Sonsbeek), and the Warnsborn esate. Tippng the Airborne War cemetery in Oosterbeek, it runs through an area know as “the valley of the 1000-year old oaktrees” – named as such by a romantic writer that dwelled this area quite often – to Wolfheze.
That is where we aprkes our car – easier than in Arnhem – and went to the starting point by train, and walked back.
The images taken can be seen here.
There is no tracking data, because the information can be downloaded here – but for reference, I added an estimation on MapSource and built up a projection on GoogleEarth, as usual.
Vorden-Varssel vice versa
I intended to walk the first 20 kilometers of the Southern part of the Pieterpad, from Vorden to Doetinchem, and head back by train. So I parked the car at the staion in Vorden and headed fro Doetinchem – and forgot to take my wallet… Happily, I realized this after 8 kilometers, at Varssel, so the only alternative was to head back…
Neverheless, it was a nice walk – in rather hot weather, so this return was welcomed by Franka.
I took some images with my phone-camera, and tracked the walk – only one way, since I returned along the same route – in GDB, GPX and CSV formats, as usual.
Steenenkamer
This is a cycleroute, starting and ending at thge Nijkerk railway station, leading through the Gelderse Vallei to Voorthuizen, up the edge of the veluwe through the woods of Spoolderbos and returning by the Arkenmheen polder on the verges of the Veluwemeer- the former Zuiderzee. It’s a route described by the Dutch tourist organization ANWB, and it’s length is about 45 kilometers. I tipped the waypoints in my GPS and designed a way to joint this route and return back to Leusden – adding about 30 kilometers.
I didn’t take images this time, but tracked the route.
The tracks are , as usual, available in Garmin, general and CSV formats. I also added the waypoints in Garmin, general and CSV formats.
Pieterpad-Zuid
The most popular of all Dutch long-distance footpaths run from North to South, close to, and sometimes over the Eastern border: the Pieterpad – named from the start and finish: from Pieterburen in the high North, to the Pietersberg in the South, just oven 400 kilometers. It connects to the European routes that run through the Netherlands (E2, E4, E5 and E8). Other than these routes, that all have an ancient history, the Pieterpad has iit’s origin by Dutch walkers – two friends that wanted to create a long-distance footpath. Today, it has a status – You haven’t walked unless you walked the Pieterpad. The result is that the path can be quite crowded – not exactly what we have in mind …
Well, we can’t escape. There are nice walks to be done. Because the path is ‘artificial’, the neighbourhood of public transport has been part of the design.
To cover it all, this is the page to get to the images. Tracking data can be accessed from that page as well.