South Beveland with Kapelle, Wemeldinge and Yerseke

A lovely, atmospheric landscape full of winding creeks with sloping banks and beautiful reed collars. In the swampy, rural area you cycle past characteristic farms and through fields and orchards. So no wild nature in Zuid Beveland, but neatly landscaped polders with tight arable land that is used for agriculture and fruit growing. On the peninsula between the Oosterschelde and Westerschelde, the battle against the rising water has been won and the fertile land is gratefully cultivated. In the third and fourth centuries, this part of Zeeland did not yet exist and the area was under water, but from the Middle Ages the area was reclaimed piece by piece and the population living there can make an excellent living from agriculture and fishing. In 1530 during the St. Felix Flood and in 1570 during the All Saints Flood, the water reclaimed a large part of the land, but the most famous flood in Dutch history is undoubtedly the Flood of 1953. The eastern part of Zuid-Beveland was flooded. to stand. The peninsula has benefited greatly from the construction of the Delta Works, which made Central Zeeland more accessible to the rest of the Netherlands. From the parking lot, where you can park your car for free, you cycle past beautiful windmills. You will encounter the first one after twenty kilometers: the De Hoop mill is located in Wemeldinge. De Hoop flour mill was built in 1866 by a miller who worked at the predecessor of the other mill in the village (Aeolus). The mill was in operation until 1968. Plans were then made to convert the mill into a home, but these plans disappeared again. Nowadays, the white round stone mill with two pairs of grinding stones still grinds grain on a voluntary basis. The aforementioned Aeolus is a grist and peel mill that was built in 1869. This tower mill was the answer to the construction of De Hoop and, in order to surpass this mill, it is higher and larger than that mill. The mill has three pairs of grinding stones and a peeling stone. The rods are the oldest rods still in use in the Netherlands and date from 1871. The mill is named after a Greek wind god and it is therefore not difficult to guess that the mill derived its power to turn and grind from this element. Nowadays, the Aeolus is still put into operation from time to time by a volunteer miller. The third and last mill that you can view during your cycle tour is the Oude Molen in Kruiningen. This grist mill was built in 1801 and continued to grind grist using wind power until 1953. In the second half of the twentieth century, the mill was extensively restored twice, after the municipality bought the ground sailor in 1959. In 2001, the entire mill was moved a bit, so that it could catch the wind better. A volunteer miller regularly puts the mill, which is equipped with two pairs of grinding stones, into operation.