Nieuwkoop Lakes

Fourteen hundred hectares of ponds, streams, reed beds and marshy meadows that were formed from the sixteenth century stretch out in front of you when you cycle this beautiful route. The surroundings with peat houses near the ribbon village of Nieuwkoop are very attractive to curious cyclists, because beautiful cabin boats sail on the large lakes, while the smaller lakes are used by canoeists and rowers, or those on board an electric boat. The area is not only good for water fun, because because the water is very pure, beautiful plants such as water gentian and water lilies grow there. Fields of crab shear, floating hemlocks and large amounts of bladderwort float here and there in the puddles and erratic waterways. Between the water are beautiful extensive reed beds that give the area a remarkable wide and open character. Colorful plants such as loosestrife, water sorrel, meadowsweet, large water eppe and various types of sedge sway on the banks of the reed beds. In the spring, the beautiful royal fern stands out among the shrub species. The wide and extensive area is the habitat and breeding area of many marsh birds. The great and small reed warbler, but also the mustache and the rare bittern hide among the reeds. Nesting colonies of cormorants and purple herons prey on the fish in the pools, and in winter the area attracts hundreds of geese, ducks and grebes. You depart from the Tourist Transfer Point in Nieuwkoop. From this point you cycle to the Westveense windmill. This seesaw mill from 1676 was built to drain the Westveense polder, which is 145 hectares in size. A storm in 1837 destroyed the mill, but it was restored. The mill was also restored after it gradually subsided in the mid-twentieth century. A new large-scale restoration in 2010 made the mill, which came to a standstill after 2008, ready to grind again.