The front part of the Achterhoek

On this route you will explore Doetinchem and the nature reserve east of this city in the Achterhoek. You will cycle through the typical coulisse landscape of this region. You will also cycle along the Oude IJssel between Doetinchem and Terborg. This watercourse was once a tributary of the Rhine. The Oude IJssel rises in Germany and then flows via Doetinchem to Doesburg, where it flows into the IJssel. In the regional language of the Achterhoek, Low Saxon, the river is called the Olde Iessel. The Dutch iron industry originated along the Oude IJssel at the end of the seventeenth century. Iron ore was extracted here a few meters below the ground and used as a raw material in local iron foundries. You will cycle through the village of Gaanderen where Josias Olmius built the first Dutch blast furnace, an iron mill, at the end of the seventeenth century. He produced bombs, hand grenades and bullets, among other things. You will also drive over the centuries-old Slangeburg Estate, where the castle of the same name is located. The almost 600 hectare site originally consisted of wet heathland and forests, but was largely reclaimed by order of the lord of the castle and general Frederik Johan van Baer (1645-1713). Van Baer designed the lane system that still lies on the estate in the shape of a trapezium. Along these lanes are centuries-old beech trees in which bats and pine martens live. Between 1895 and 1945, the castle was owned by the German Passmann family. After the Second World War, it came into the hands of the Dutch state as enemy property. Staatsbosbeheer is rewetting the estate to restore it to its former state. The castle currently serves as a guesthouse for the Benedictine St. Willibrord Abbey, which was built on the estate after the Second World War. Guided tours are available. In the pleasant Doetinchem you will cycle past De Walmolen, a rampart and tower mill dating from 1851. It is one of the few remaining monuments in this city that was founded in the Middle Ages. A major city fire reduced the city centre to ashes in 1527. A mistake by the Allies - they thought they were bombing the German city of Isselburg in 1945 - almost wiped out the entire city centre.