Havezatenpad 9: Dalfsen-Zwolle

Further down the Vecht basin – on the southern side – towards the capital of the province Overijssel, but the route will normally bypass the urban area and head straight through the suburb of Berkum – once a village but today just a suburb. But to get to the station, a route along the old city has been described. I’ve lived here for a few years and so I happen to know that confectionery “Van Orsouw” has great pastry – worth a detour, but without dog.
From the place where we crossed the moat, we went straight for the station. The route follows the location of the old defensive wall, passing the only remaining gate-towers. We would return by train – but works on the rail-road made us travel by bus.
The images on this track are located here – as well as the tracking data in Garmin, generic and CSV-format.

Havezatenpad 8: Ommen – Dalfsen

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.

Havezatenpad 7: Nijverdal-Ommen

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.

Havezatenpad 6: Rijssen-Nijverdal

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

Havezatenpad 5: Markelo-Rijssen

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.

Havezatenpad 4: Goor – Markelo

The next part of the long-distance footpath would be Goor to Rijssen – since either has a railway station, travelling to get started – or to finish – would be easy. But that would mean a walk of 35 kilometers. Since the weather was fine and the actual distance between the two placses minor compared to the walk itself, we decided to cut this track in two, and walk from Goor to Markelo – a distance of about 20 kilometers, including the part from the station in Goor to the path – and cycle back along the main road – a mere 7 kilometers.
So we dropped the bikes at the Tourist Office in Markelo, drove on to Goor and started our walk – a long U-shape track, first South from Goor to the track, then to Diepenjeim where we had our rest, then bending slightly West tand finally North again.
We passed a number of estates – manors and halls – after which the path is named: Weldam, Nijenhuis, Diepenheim and Westerflier, in a rural, mainly agricultural landscape, but full of changes.
A number of images have been taken, and of course, the tracks are available in Garmin, General Exchange en CSV formats.

Den Ham – Ommen vice versa

This is a walk designed from the Havezatenpad and the Sallandpad – two long-distance footpaths in the neigbourhood of Den Ham. We were staying at the Melody Farm and had to walk about 5 kilometers to joint the signposted paths. At some places, the mapped route was blocked or unclear so we had to take a diversion. Halfway, part of the group took a shortcut back, the rest continued to Ommen ans returned along the route. I went on along the Regge river, adding a few kilometers to the 30 of the ‘normal’ route.
I didn’t bring camera of GPS, so all I have is the track as re-designed – afterwards – in Garmin and projected on Google, and the route data in Garmin, generic and CSV formats.