From De Bult to the Hunebedden of Havelte

The medieval collective of larger farmers created a beautiful landscape around Uffelte and Havelte. High-altitude fields were separated by gigantic forests, large peat bogs, vast moors and beautiful drifting sands. The Uffelterzand is a smaller area covered by forests and heathland. If you pay close attention, you can see some burial mounds in this area. Larger is the Westerzand, which is formed by an estate where forest, heathland and peat merge into one another. Part of this estate is privately owned, another part is accessible to the public.

During the bike tour you cycle to a beautiful piece of history that has been preserved in our country in the Westerzand: dolmen D54 and dolmen D53, both of which were built during the Funnel Beaker culture. Fourteen bearing stones support the capstones, of which there are six in all. The easternmost capstone is missing, along with the keystone.

Hunebed D53 is even larger and has 21 supporting stones, two keystones and nine capstones. The gate is also complete and consists of four supporting stones and a capstone. In 1918 this hunebed was scientifically investigated and during the excavation the shards of 665 pots were found. In addition, the research showed that the hunebed once had sixteen whorl stones instead of the current ten.