The city of Gorinchem and surroundings, enjoy yourself

A fortified city, old ribbon villages and hamlets, monumental mills, waterways and an extensive polder: in the Alblasserwaard you can enjoy a wonderfully varied day of cycling.

In cozy Gorinchem, also written as Gorkum, history is visible everywhere. In this former merchant and garrison town, the street pattern from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is still visible. The sixteenth-century city walls have also been preserved. In this fortified city of the Dutch Waterline you will find countless monumental buildings and historic defenses.

The Alblasserwaard is an extensive polder area. This peat meadow area consists mainly of meadows crossed by numerous ditches. It is wonderfully quiet cycling here. You pass through old towns such as Bleskensgraaf, Molenaarsgraaf and Brandwijk. Not much has been preserved of the old Bleskensgraaf: the old center was almost completely destroyed during a bombardment in 1940. Only the historic farms and mills outside the center were preserved.

While cycling, you will pass a number of historic mills. Just outside Giessendam you will see the Tiendwegse Molen, a polder mill from 1906. At Bleskensgraaf you will pass the Hofwegense Molen. There was a mill here as early as 1513, but it was set on fire by plundering Gelderland soldiers. After its reconstruction in 1514, the mill drained the surrounding polder for centuries. At the end of the nineteenth century, the Hofwegense Molen was rebuilt to increase its capacity. Near this mill you can still see the remains of the Veltmolen in the polder, a polder mill that was built in the first half of the eighteenth century to drain the polders of Gijbeland and Hofwegen.

The Kerkmolen is located in Molenaarsgraaf. This polder mill from 1844 replaced its predecessor, which burned out a year earlier, and had been here since the end of the sixteenth century. The next mill on your route, the remainder of the Bovenkerkse Molen, also had a predecessor that burned down (in 1865). In 1928, the Bovenkerkse Mill was dismantled and given an engine that ran on crude oil to drive the (outside) paddle wheel. The mill remained in operation as a pumping station and service residence for the operator until 1980. A little further away is the Scheiwijkse Mill, built in 1638, which was used to drain the surrounding areas.

In Gorinchem you will find three old mills. The Westmolen and Oostmolen date from 1814 and 1817 respectively. Together they drained the De Banne polder of Gorinchem & Kwakernaat. Both mills are now inhabited. In the center of the city you will pass Molen Nooit Volmaak. This round stone mill was built in 1718, after its predecessor on this site was destroyed by a storm. In 1889 the mill suffered fire damage and was repaired with parts from the Nooit Volmaak oil mill. The mill owes its name to this part donation.