Tour around the Alkmaardermeer

You drive through a landscape of neatly divided polders and vast peat meadow areas. You will see typical long plot shapes, lush reed strips and of course the Dutch high skies. You pass the village of West-Knollendam, which is located at a junction of several waterways. Just outside the village you drive to De Woudaap, a polder mill built around 1651.

You drive to the Alkmaardermeer via the Markervaart. This lake is part of a main sailing route, but many water sports are also practiced here. From a bench you can take a leisurely look at all those pleasure boats and surfers.

Near the entrance to the North Holland Canal you will pass two beautiful windmills. First you see De Oude Knegt. This is the third version of an old thatched corn mill that was demolished for the first time in 1925. This old mill was rebuilt in the early 1980s, but this second mill burned down completely due to a flare on New Year's Day 2001. In 2003, the current mill rose again from its ashes. A little further on is the Noordermolen. This polder mill was probably built in 1589. Its predecessor was destroyed by the Spanish in 1573 during the Siege of Alkmaar.

In addition to meadows, you will also see bulb fields around you, especially around Limmen. In this old village, take a look at the Reformed Church on Zuidkerkenlaan. This church was built in the late Middle Ages on a beach wall. Just outside Uitgeest you drive past two monumental mills that also have a history of fire and reconstruction. De Dog is a polder mill that was built in 1896, because its seventeenth-century predecessor burned out a year earlier due to lightning. Further on is a polder mill that - with a sense of humor - is called De Kat. This mill dates from 1973 and even replaced two predecessors. The first, from the sixteenth century, burned down in 1889. The second in 1971. The mill was originally called De Zien after the polder it drained.