Along the shores of the Wadden Sea and Lauwersmeer

With this route you combine three highlights in the North of Friesland: the Wadden Sea, National Park Lauwersmeer and the picturesque polder landscape. This will be a trip to get a breath of fresh air in the salty air and to enjoy the peace. And if the weather is nice, take a dip in the Wadden Sea - that is, if there is water.

Lauwersmeer National Park is a pearl on the Wadden Sea. The vast landscape is an El Dorado for birds, with hundreds of thousands of them settling every year. Waders and ducks seek rest and food in the shallow water and retreat along the banks, while geese and meadow birds prefer the shelter of the grassy grasslands. Rarer birds such as the bittern and the bearded man hide among the reed beds. You may be lucky and see how the white-tailed eagle skims over the salt marshes. Anyway, from a bench you can enjoy the beautiful view anyway.

From a long distance you can see characteristic Frisian terp villages on the horizon, such as Wierum, Metslawier and Anjum. Most terp villages originated in the time when the sea could still flow over the Frisian land. In this salt marsh landscape, elevations arose because the sea left behind more silt in some places than in others. In places where the elevations were close together, a terp could be built by filling in the intermediate depressions.

In addition to beautiful villages, the Frisian landscape is dotted with (polder) windmills. Molen de Eendracht is located in Anjum, which houses a mill museum. A little later you will see mill De Gans from 1850, which undoubtedly owes its name to its drainage area, the Ganzenpolder. Farmer Martinus Aukes Wierda from the Guozzepôlle in Ezumazijl had the mill built. Although the installation is relatively small, farmer Martinus managed to reclaim 28 hectares of land on the former Lauwerszee.