The last legs of this long-distance path have been walked, and now the route is complete.
Continueing where we last ended – that is: close by – we walked from Zwolle, via Hasselt en Genemuiden to Zwartsluis – the last leg we did before in the prologue. We returned by bus – halting closeby. Next, the eleventh walk in the series lead from Zwartsluis, through the Wieden National Reserve, to “The Dutch Venice”: Giethoorn. Again, it was fairly easy to return by public transport.
The twelfth walk however would not have that advantage, so we decided to postpone it to a time when we could use our bikes to return – and did the thirteenth and last walk first, starting at Oldemarkt, just off route, to Steenwijk, the landing zone, and head back by bus once more. This walk was done in winter conditions, in the snow.
This spring, we did the postponed walk – parked our bikes in Oldemarkt, drove to Giethoorn by car, walked to Oldemarkt and drove 15 kilometers back – in sunny, though windy conditions.
So the last few walsk may look weird…..
All walks and tracking data can be accessed here. (The tracks are available but the links still need to be created..)
Category: Tracks
Tracks = Walks, planned and unplanned, that are closer than a day drive, normally one or a few days at a time. The main aim or these walks is, well, walk, and have a look around the corner. Some longer wals could be mentioned “Travels” it they were further away and would last longer, not part-by-part. But the distinction is arbitarty sometimes.
Renswoude
A relatively short walk on a cloudy day, rather close by, starting and ending at a parking just outside Renswoude – on the East side, just across the line of sight from Renswoude Castle over it’s Grand Canal – similar to Versailles, but lacking it’s ‘ grandeur’. The route passes to the works of the Hollandse Waterlinie – a line of defense, consisting of dykes in the lower lands of the Gelderse Vallei. In times of war, these low lands would be inundated; the dykes acting as a lifeline to the fortresses buiklt along the line. This walk crosses two of them on the way.
At end, we headed back to Renswoude, ending on the side of the Renswoude Estate, passing it’s dovecote and church. and the housing of the servanst of the castle – a nattional monument.
I took a number of images, and of course, the track is available here, in Garmin, general and .CSV formats
Rheinsteig: Leutesdorf to Braubach
Since our last walks on this track, back in 2009, we ended up in RheinBohl – just south of Bad Hoennigen. To close the gap, the route would lead us over the flatlands around Neuwied, on the opposite border of Koblenz. But thinking we ended in Leutesdorf, we started our walks there – leaving a day’s walk gap to be closed some other day: From Rheinbohl to Leutesdorf.
We parked our car on the city parking in Leutesdorf, not too far from the station where we would pick up the route. The first day brought us to Rensdorf, where we stayed in a just open guesthouse – wanderers only – for a reasonable price. The next day we headed out for Sayn, but since the nearest railaway station is near Bendorf, we had to proceed several extra kilometers – making a detour that we found out the next day. We rode back by train – over Koblenz Central Station – and picked up up our car, and drove to a camping site over Lahnstein – directly behind the castle.
The next day, after passing to Bendorf Station by car, we took the short route from the Bendorf station to Sayn and walked to Ehrenbreitstein – the route officially passes over the fortress grounds but restauration works were underway for an exhibition, so we had to follow a less interresting diversion – not too clearly signposted at the end. Back by train and car, to the camping site.
The last day was a relatively short walk from the station at Eherenbreitsten to the burrough of Braubach, where we had started the route in 2007. From there, we made our ride to the Harz.
Of course, there are the images – but no real-time tracks, since the tracking files were lost … But I.ve been able to reconstruct them. You’ll find both images and tracks here
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.
Havezatenpad 3: Delden – Goor
As the bird flies, it is a little distance – and by train just 6 minutes from station to station, but all in all the walk is almost 30 kilometers – an S-shaped track, with the last 2.5 kilometers off route to get to the station in Goor
Starting in Delden at the railway station (opened , the residence of the Twickel estate, a large part of the route ran over paths on the estate, passing a restored mill, the base being laid out before 1350; at that point we crossed another long distance footpath we’ve done before (Marskramerpad, from Deventer to Oldenzaal (LAW3-1)), and we covered the same region, only several kilometers North of this path, until we reached the TwenteKanaal – where we kept following the canal, but the Marskeamerpad crossed the bridge.
We had our rest in the restaurant “De Markenrichter” – where the people in the area took care of their own business: making appointments, right would be spoken in case of failure – before Napolean rule closed the habit that had been there (and working well ) for ages….
In the area named “Kerspel Goor” we lost the signs – probably the route has been diverted because of works on removing asbest-polluted surface so the path was officially closed. But since the soil had been removed, we simply kept to our path according the booklet; the distance was just a two-hundred meters.It was only on the detour to Goor that we found the white-red signs again. What happened with the track, we don’t know.
Of course, the route has been tracked in Garmin, general and CSV formats – and because it’s such a nice environment, there are quite a few pictures.