Meijepolder Bodegraven, Woerden and Nieuwkoop

Bodegraven-Reeuwijk, South Holland, The Netherlands

Cycling route: 116217

based on 7 reviews

Provided by: route.nl

50.1 km
02:56 h
883 kcal
4 m

Description

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

The small, meandering peat river Mije leads through the polder and the meadow area and gives extra atmosphere to the area, in which many ancient, characteristic farms can still be seen. A great diversity of marsh birds live in and around the banks of the lakes and in the meadows. The black tern, which is becoming increasingly rare, 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 subsist on what the puddles have to offer. The water is quite pure and there are many plants such as water gentian and water lilies, but you will also see floating hemlocks and fields of crab shear.

You leave from the parking lot in Bodegraven and soon come across the Weijpoortsche Molen. The original seesaw mill from 1564 ground the water through a long canal. This mill was destroyed by French soldiers in 1672 and burned out completely, so that the current mill had to be built in 1674. The mill was last radically restored in 1995 and even today, the mill is still used for grinding every Saturday. When that happens, the mill will also be accessible to interested parties.

When you arrive in Woerden, there is a windmill on the route that largely determines the townscape: the Greyhound. This beautiful round, stone, black tower mill was built in 1755 on a mill mountain, which was originally a bastion that belonged to the city walls of Woerden. In order to place the Greyhound, another mill was demolished. In 1877 the mill got a steam engine, in 1901 a gas engine was added. The mill still performs its function and grinds the grain mainly on wind power, although the gas engine is still in good condition.

Woerden Castle is also located in Woerden, which was built in 1415. When the castle was finished it was surrounded by a moat and the fortress could be accessed via a bridge. At the front gate 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 penterij and the stables. The portcullis, the thorn bushes, a palisade left nothing to the imagination and made it clear that this castle served as a defensive structure. It could provide protection for more than a hundred people.

The Westveense Mill, which is 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, ready to grind again.

De Arkduif was built in Bodegraven, a tower mill built in 1697. The corn mill is located on the Overtocht near the Oude Rijn and has a brick 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 currently 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 Fort Wiericker Schans. The defenses were built in 1673 and are part of the New Dutch Waterline. The fort retained its defensive function until the nineteenth century, but the fortress has also had other uses. For example, the fort has also been used as a gunpowder storage facility, as a residence for officers, as a church and as a training school for watchdogs. Today the fort is a tourist center for a wide recreational audience.

Parking Bicycle cafe Windmill Regional products Fort Castle

Height Profile

Directions

# Description Distance
Parkeerplaats (Weijpoort, 2415BV, Bodegraven-Reeuwijk, South Holland, The Netherlands) 0.00 km
Weijpoortsche Molen (De Weijpoortsche Molen, 2415BT, Bodegraven-Reeuwijk, South Holland, The Netherlands) 1.12 km
67
67 (3442AH, Woerden, Utrecht, The Netherlands) 9.11 km
Windhond (3441AW, Woerden, Utrecht, The Netherlands) 10.08 km
28
28 (3441CP, Woerden, Utrecht, The Netherlands) 10.54 km
Kasteel Woerden (Kasteel, 3441BZ, Woerden, Utrecht, The Netherlands) 10.64 km

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