Hippolytushoe on foot

Wieringen calls itself the secret Wadden Island. The former island was 'linked' to North Holland in 1924 by diking and land reclamation. Yet Wieringen has retained its island feel, partly because the rolling moraine landscape contrasts so beautifully with the low polders in the area.

This walk will introduce you to the authentic Wieringen.

Just outside Hippolytushoef you walk along the dike along the Wadden Sea. It smells wonderfully salty here. In good weather you can see the Kop van Noord-Holland and Texel. You pass Molen De Onderneming, a thatched corn and hulling mill from 1851.

When you walk along the west side, think back to the function this part of Wieringen had in the VOC era. Ships returning from the East would put sick sailors ashore here - more or less within sight of the ports of Enkhuizen, Hoorn and Amsterdam. This quarantine was intended to prevent diseases from spreading ashore.

At the hamlet of De Hoelm begins the Wierdijk, which dates back to the sixteenth century. It is the only remaining wierdijk in Holland, and is therefore considered a cultural-historical monument. The dike ran along the former southern coast of Wieringen and has been reinforced with sea grass. A reconstruction of the dike can only be viewed at De Hoelm.

You walk along farmland paths through vast fields. Along the way, you will certainly stop a few times to take a closer look at the historic Wieringen farms. Wieringen has a rich and eventful history anyway. In the ninth century, the island was a base for Danish Vikings for a short time. And after the First World War, Wieringen served as a place of exile for the escaped German Crown Prince Wilhelm from 1918 to 1923. The story goes that blacksmith Jan Luyt from Hippolytushoef taught the Crown Prince how to forge horseshoes.