The dunes of Amsterdam

We start at junction 44 in De Zilk, a village of more than 2,300 inhabitants. From a historical perspective, bulb cultivation is an important economic activity in De Zilk. Think especially of hyacinth cultivation. We cycle through the beautiful bulb fields towards the famous seaside resort of Zandvoort. Here people live from tourism. Zandvoort is also known for the Circuit Park Zandvoort.
From Zandvoort we go into the dunes beyond the coastline of the North Sea towards Noordwijkerhout. We cycle through the Amsterdam Water Supply Dunes. The dune area is designed for the extraction of drinking water for the city of Amsterdam; Fifty million cubic meters of drinking water flows through this 3,400-hectare area every year. Water has been extracted since 1853, making it the oldest water extraction area in the Netherlands.
The dune area is a protected natural monument and registered with the European Commission as a Habitats Directive area. This means it enjoys protection under European regulations. Peace, space and nature are the main core values of this area. The Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen has the largest fallow deer population in the Netherlands per hectare. It is estimated that there are approximately 1000 fallow deer roaming around. Fallow deer have not been hunted for a number of years and their numbers have increased considerably. The large numbers of fallow deer are a major crowd puller. After our cycle tour through the dune area, we cycle past the bulb fields again to return to De Zilk, where we started this tour.