Hippolytus hoof on foot

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

This walk lets you get acquainted with the authentic Wieringen. 

Just outside Hippolytushoef you walk on 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 will pass Molen De Onderneming, a thatched corn and hulling mill from 1851.

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

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

You walk on farmland paths through vast arable lands. Along the way you will certainly stop a few times to take a closer look at the historic Wieringer 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 from 1918 to 1923 as a place of exile for the German crown prince Wilhelm who had fled. The story goes that blacksmith Jan Luyt from Hippolytushoef taught the crown prince how to forge horseshoes.