From Hardenberg to the Engbertsdijksvenen

Cycle along the beautiful Engbertsdijksvenen, a nature reserve with an area of approximately 1,000 hectares. The extensive peatlands with fens and heathland are the remains of a much larger peat swamp that used to cover the northeast of the Netherlands.

Overijsselse Vechtdal
The start of the route leads you through the beautiful Overijsselse Vechtdal. Then you continue to the Engbertsdijksvenen. This is one of the few nature reserves where you can still find active raised bogs. There are considerable height differences, with the high sandy parts being called 'haren'. Some of these peaks are covered with forests. Until the nineteenth century, people only used this peat area to graze sheep, extract peat for their own use and grow buckwheat.

Veenmuseum Westerhaar
Along the way, visit the Veenmuseum Westerhaar: an open-air museum with peat huts, an old typical Vriezenveen farm and a nineteenth-century shop and taproom. You can be driven around the site in an original peat train. At the end of the route you cycle through the Hardenberg forestry in the Vechtdal, with beautiful views of the heath. Back at your starting point, McDonald\\\'s Restaurant Hardenberg, you can enjoy something to eat or drink. Or how about an ice cream?