Stadskanaal, Gasselte and Borger

Saxon farms around the village green, the fields on the rounded ash trees, the higher fields and the hayfields and meadows in the lower stream valley: in the De Drentsche Aa National Park and National Landscape, the old, typical Drenthe landscape is preserved. The Drentsche Aa winds its way through a landscape that has remained exceptionally intact and where farmers have held sway for thousands of years. Yet the landscape was shaped by the stream, around which an esdorp landscape was built. In the area you will find a characteristic combination of 'spontaneous' nature and agricultural activities on the land: haying, mowing and sod. It is a beautiful landscape, in which open and closed areas alternate strongly. Before you start your bike tour, you can have your bike thoroughly checked at the starting point of the route at Profile Addens. This way you will be well prepared and on your way safely. If you have a bicycle discount pass, you will receive a EUR 10.00 discount on maintenance and service. After you have found your way for more than 36 kilometers through the Drenthe province, you come to Hunebed D27 in Borger. This is the largest dolmen in the Netherlands: 23 meters long, with nine covering stones and four gate stones, this giant has no fewer than 23 meters! It is also one of the few dolmens where human remains have been found. Due to its size, it has always been thought that Borger may have been the center of the Funnel Beaker culture. The National Hunebed Information Center, a museum located next to the dolmen, takes you back in the time of the Funnel Beaker people. Here you will find out everything about the dolmens that you encounter on our cycling routes. A few kilometers further on, four dolmens are close together, of which dolmen D23 is by far the worst condition: there is only a capstone left that is supported by smaller capstones and a capstone has fallen off the load-bearing stones. The dolmen is almost no longer recognizable as such, but the fact that the other dolmens are at such a short distance does ring a bell.