The Loosdrecht Lakes and the Dutch Waterline

This route leads around the Loosdrecht Lakes with their beautiful nature and past the many forts and defenses that are part of the Dutch Waterline. The Loosdrechtse Plassen form the central part of the Oostelijke Vechtplassen. This Natura 2000 area is a special protection zone for birds, but also for plants and other animals. The lakes were created because ditches and ponds were dug in the original wet peat to drain the area. The peat that emerged was used as pastureland or for peat extraction. However, the land between the ditches has been excavated or washed away by the water over the centuries, so that the puddles gradually became larger. It is now a popular recreational area with a rich flora and fauna. Loenersloot Castle was first mentioned in 1258. The 13th century residential tower was expanded in the 18th century and rebricked and fitted with battlements in the 19th century. The main building of the castle now houses a collection of wooden furniture and the Utrecht Castles Foundation is located there. The castle is only exceptionally open to the public. Fort Kijkuit is one of the fortifications that are part of the Dutch Waterline, the defense line constructed between 1815 and 1870 between Muiden and the Biesbosch. Behind a wall with loopholes and shooting slits lies a bomb-proof guardhouse, with a gun emplacement on top. The original canal with drawbridge was filled in around 1880. The fort is visible from the public road and the water and only open on Open Monument Day. You cycle past Sypesteyn Castle Museum. A house is said to have been built here in 1288, but the oldest foundations found date from 1500. The layout of the current castle is still largely as it was in the 1930s. There is a medieval armory, a Gothic room and a 17th century hall. The visitor can view collections of Oriental and Dutch porcelain. The leafy garden consists of a castle garden, a maze and an orchard, separated by hedges, moats and ornamental wrought iron fences. Fort Tienhoven is also part of the New Dutch Waterline. The fort was built between 1848 and 1850 in the southwest corner of the Loosdrechtse Plassen on the canal to the river Vecht. It consisted of a defensible guardhouse measuring 15 by 15 meters. In the interwar period, a cast steel dome casemate for a heavy machine gun was placed. It is not open to the public.