The love of the Drentsche Aa

In De Drentsche Aa National Park, the individual atmosphere and identity of the old esdorp landscape has been preserved. Where in the Netherlands almost every other area was taken care of by people, people here took the landscape as it was. The result is a rural area where you almost literally cycle back in time: the environment here has hardly changed in the past 150 years. This area is therefore the best preserved stream and esdorp landscape in Western Europe.

However short, the route offers you a lot of variety. You see Saxon farms around the green, fields on the convex ash and hay meadows in the lower stream valley. You will pass through a number of picturesque villages, such as the ancient green village of Tynaarlo. The town of Oudemolen is named after a dilapidated water mill that once stood at the Drentsche Aa. De Zwaluw, a thatched corn mill from 1837, is still standing, a little further along your route.