Cycling through the Anna Paulownapolder

The North Sea coast has the most hours of sunshine in the Netherlands. In the North Holland polder you have a lot of opportunity to enjoy the vast polder and the bulb fields in radiant weather.

Dark Dunes
Just below Den Helder you drive along the Mariëndal, where low dunes and dune grasslands now grow on the former bulb soil. You cycle into the coniferous forests of the Donkere Duinen. This nature reserve was formed from the remains of an old Wadden Island that grew onto the mainland in the sixteenth century through drifting sand. You cycle south through the dunes. From the distance you can see Groote Kaap looming, a seventeen-meter-high red steel lighthouse.

Raft bridge
At't Zand you cross the Noordhollandsch Kanaal via one of the five remaining raft bridges in the Netherlands. You will also pass the De Leonide mill from 2002. This mill looks like a traditional sawmill, but has never been in operation.

Old Sluis
The village of Oude Sluis is a good example of the age-old Dutch reclamation drive. The village was originally located at the foothills of the Zuiderzee. It was a mooring place for VOC ships that sailed out to sea via the Marsdiep. However, Oude Sluis was cut off from the sea by the construction of the Anna Paulownapolder in 1846. The polder was named after the wife of King Willem II, the Russian Anna Paulowna. The sandy soil turned out to be extremely suitable for bulb growing: the municipality of Anna Paulowna is still the largest contiguous bulb area in the world.