Forests and estates of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug

Your route starts with a cup of coffee at the Wapen van Elst. From here you will cycle through the Utrechtse Heuvelrug National Park. The area around Langbroek used to consist mainly of swamp forest that changed into a battle landscape due to the development. The characteristic residential towers at Langbroek initially served as a defense, but later as a status symbol. You cycle past Leeuwenburgh, a country house that dates back to 1657. And Kasteel Sterkenburg, a knight's manor whose history dates back to the thirteenth century. The village of Austerlitz got its name from the French general Marmont, who had Kamp Zeist built on the heath in 1804. Austerlitz is a former Czech town where Napoleon won an important battle in 1805. You cycle back past the striking Poorthuis Ruiterberg from 1917.