Cycling along the water near Leiden

Fancy a nice bike ride along the water, through the polder landscape with its mills, with a visit to the lovely Leiden along the way? Then this is the route for you!

Mills
After a cup of coffee or a pure juice on the terrace of Landwinkel Castelijn you set off. First you cycle a bit along the Kagerplassen: twelve peat lakes with a few small islands. You see polder mills in abundance here, they are indispensable to keep this wet area under control. Each island has its own mill to grind it dry. The municipality of Kaag en Braassem even has the most mills in the whole of the Netherlands: 20!

Old Rhine
Lijkermolen No. 1 is a special one: together with Lijkermolen No. 2, these are the only twelve-sided stone mills in the country. The mills are named after the Lijkerpolder. Here in the land of Kaag and Braassen you can clearly see that the polders are meters lower than the dikes, centuries-old peat dikes that are still doing well. The beautiful Oude Rijn leads you along the edge of Leiden back to your starting point.