The Loosdrecht lakes and the Dutch Waterline

This route leads around the Loosdrechtse Plassen with its beautiful nature and along the many forts and defenses that are part of the Dutch Waterline. The Loosdrechtse Plassen form the central part of the Eastern 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 low peat that was created was used as pastureland or for peat extraction. However, the land between the ditches was dug away or washed away by the water over the centuries, so that the lakes gradually became larger. It is now a popular recreation 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 in the 19th century it was bricked up and provided with battlements. 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 open to the public in exceptional circumstances. Fort Kijkuit is one of the fortifications that are part of the Dutch Waterline, the defence line that was built between Muiden and the Biesbosch between 1815 and 1870. Behind a wall with loopholes and firing slits lies a bomb-proof guardhouse, on top of which is a gun emplacement. The original moat with drawbridge was filled in around 1880. The fort is visible from the public road and the water and is only open on Open Monument Day. You cycle past Kasteel Museum Sypesteyn. A house was said to have been built here in 1288, but the oldest foundations that have been found date from 1500. The interior of the current castle is still largely as it was in the 1930s. There is a medieval armoury, a Gothic room and a 17th-century hall. Visitors can view collections of Eastern 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 south-west corner of the Loosdrechtse Plassen on the canal to the river Vecht. It consisted of a defensible guardhouse of 15 by 15 metres. In the interbellum, a cast steel cupola casemate for a heavy machine gun was placed. It is not accessible to the public.