Meijepolder Bodegraven, Woerden and Nieuwkoop

Cycling through a typical Dutch polder and river landscape, you can hardly find a more authentic Dutch area than the area surrounding the Nieuwkoopse Plassen. The peat lake area that was created from the sixteenth century onwards is often used for recreation on the water. With a large marina nearby, you mainly see cabins on the water.

The small, winding peat river the Mije leads through the polder and the meadow area and adds extra atmosphere to the area, where many centuries-old, characteristic farms can still be seen. A wide diversity of marsh birds lives in and around the banks of the lakes and in the meadows. The increasingly rare black tern, but also the great and little reed warbler and the mustache like to breed here. Fish eaters such as the purple heron and the cormorant survive on what the lakes have to offer them. The water is quite pure and many plants grow there, such as water gentian and water lilies, but you also see drifts of water hemlock and fields of crabs.

You leave from the parking lot in Bodegraven and soon come across the Weijpoortsche Mill. The original seesaw mill from 1564 pumped the water through a long canal. This mill was destroyed by French soldiers in 1672 and burned down completely, so that the current mill had to be built in 1674. The mill was last extensively restored in 1995 and the mill still grinds weekly on Saturdays. When that happens, the mill will also be accessible to interested parties.

When you arrive in Woerden, there is a mill on the route that largely determines the cityscape: the Windhond. This beautiful round, stone, black tower mill was built in 1755 on a mill hill, which was originally a bastion that belonged to the city walls of Woerden. Another mill was demolished to accommodate the Windhond. In 1877 the mill was fitted with a steam engine, and in 1901 a gas engine was added. The mill still performs its function and grinds the grain mainly by wind power, although the gas engine is still in good condition.

Woerden is also home to Woerden Castle, which was built in 1415. When the castle was completed it was surrounded by a moat and access to the fortress could be gained via a bridge. At the front gate there was a porter's house and behind it were the service buildings: a bakehouse, a bottling plant with a tower, a brewhouse, an kiln, a kitchen, a shed, a pentery and the stables. The portcullis, the thorn bushes and a palisade left nothing to the imagination and made it clear that this castle served as a defense structure. It could provide protection to more than a hundred people.

The Westveense Mill, located north of Woerden in the polder, was built in 1676 to drain the Westveense polder, which is 145 hectares in size. A storm in 1837 destroyed the seesaw 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, operational again.

De Arkduif, a scaffolding mill built in 1697, was built in Bodegraven. The flour mill is located on the Overtocht near the Oude Rijn and has a brickwork round hull and scaffolding. In the second half of the nineteenth century, fire damage was repaired and De Arkduif received parts from other mills, including a demolished water mill from Nieuwkoop. The mill house is now used as a beer brewery and cannot be visited from the inside.

Finally, near the parking lot where the car is parked, you will see the Wiericker Schans fort. The defense work was built in 1673 and is part of the New Dutch Waterline. The fort retained its defensive function until the nineteenth century, but the fortress also had other uses. For example, the fort has also been used as a storage facility for gunpowder, as a residence for officers, as a church and as a training school for guard dogs. Nowadays the fort is a tourist center for a wide recreational audience.