12 tops in a low land

5-Drenthe: Haantjeduin - 31.3 m

18-Aug-24 - 12.5 km

This top is near the city of Emmen in the eastern part of the countryand about 3 hrs travel by train from my hometown. Due to construction work it was not possible to meet my siter in Amersfoort train station so I decided to an even longer trainride via Arnhem and Zwolle so she could join me in Ede.

We arrived in Emmen around 12 so that was a perfect time to start with a lunch on the market square downtown, just a slight detour from our walk,

For the walk I found a walk through the Emmerdennen that after small changes at the end took us over the Haantjeduin top.

During the walk we passed several ancient burial sites called Hunebedden, made with the large boulders left behind by the ice ages. The Hunebedden were built from 3400-3000 BC and are therefore the most ancient monuments in the Netherlands.

The Haantjeduin itself was a small hill in what was originally a sand drift but where planted forests had to prevent the drifting of sand to surrounding farmlands.

12 Tops in a low country

As the maximum hill in the Netherlands is 322 meters above sealevel the country is also called 'Low Lands'.

The country has 12 provinces and the authors of the hiking guide "12 toppen in een laag land" (anoda publishing - ISBN: 978-949189-94-85) have listed these highest tops in each provence with the shortest way up from the nearest public transportstation.

When I read about the guide I ordered it and took up the challenge to reach the top of all 12 of them without a fixed time schedule when to achieve this. It is not amazing that in the 4 provinces on the North Sea coast these tops are in the sand dunes that protect us against the sea!

As suggested in the guide I will search for (day) hikes around each hill where the track will include the route to these tops. I am planning these hikes with my sister in no specific order during our monthly culinairy walks around the country.

1-Utrecht: Amerongse Berg - 69.2 m

3-Jan-23 - 12.5 km

The first top I decided to visit was the Amerongse Berg in the province of Utrecht. The top is located on the south side of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug. This is a range of hills created in the ice age.

We started the hike after a lunch at Hotel Buitenlust in the village of Amerongen. Information I found on the internet I combined into a route that took us from the restaurant to the top, continued to the lonely oak and took us back to the restaurant where the car was parked on the north side of the Amerongse Bovenpolder in the floodplains of the river Rhine.

What I learned from this beautiful hike was that I need to work on my general hiking condition as going uphill was tough for me!

4-Zeeland: Groot Valkenisse - 54 m

8-Mar-24 - 13.6 km

Not surprisingly the highest top of the province of Zeeland is the top of one of the sanddunes protecting the many islands in the province against the North Sea.

To walk over the dune Groot Valkenisse I arranged a hike from the city of Flusing in the south of the island Walcheren to the village of Zoutelande. After leaving Flushing the track was mainly on top of the sanddunes and sometimes on the lower inlands. We made a stop on one of the beach pavillions.

From the village of Zoutelande we took a bus to Middelburg, the province capitol, where we had dinner and took the train back home to The Hague.

3-Flevoland: Bult van Urk - 8 m

21-Feb-24 - 10.4 km

The 12th province of the Netherlands is formed by area's of land reclaimed from the former inland 'Zuiderzee' (South sea). A part of the Noordoostpolder in the north east of the province is the former island Urk that holds the highest point: 8m above sea level!

In February the days are still short, the travel by public transport to Urk is long and therefore we decided to drive to the island for the start of the hike. As often we fisrt started with a lunch before hiking!

From the original village center on the old island we walked in a north westerly direction to neighborhoods build on reclaimed land and the forest 2.5 meter below sea level north of the village. Through the forest we walked to the western dyke of the Noordoostpolder and over the dyke back to the vilklage and the 'Bult van Urk', the highest point with the old lightroom on top.

2-Zuid Holland: Vlaggeduin - 37 m

1-Mar-23 - 14.5 km

After a coffee af my home my sister and I took the bus to Katwijk and started a hike alongside the old river Rhine, the boulevard at Katwijk at sea and through the sanddunes south of Katwijk.

We planned the hike at a beautiful sunny winters day and were happy to take lunch in one of the beach pavillions in Katwijk.

Then we walk south through Berkheide, a dune nature reserve with a predominantly open dune landscape with mainly dune grasslands and local scrub. Small valleys and parabolic dunes are characteristic of this dune area.

When we walk back north to Katwijk we climbed the Vlaggeduin that is just outside of the village. We enjoy the 360º view before we walk the last part to the bus station at the local town hall for our ride home.

Groningen and Friesland provinces

Because the highest points of Groningen and Friesland are far away from us and also require a long travel time by public transport, my sister and I decide to do the walks on two consecutive days with an overnight stay halfway.

I first took the train to my sister in Ede. Then we drive together in her car to Groningen for the first walk, after which we drive on to Harlingen for an overnight stay.

The next day we take the boat from Harlingen to Vlieland, do our walk and go back by boat. From Harlingen we drive back to Ede at the end of the second day and I continue home by train.

6-Groningen: Hasseberg - 14 m

6-Nov-24 - 10.1 km

The highest point of the province of Groningen is in the south-east corner, not far from the highest point of Drenthe where we were on August 18. Now we drive to Sellingen to walk from there. Because there is no restaurant in Sellingen, we have lunch in Ter Apel before the walk.

We park the car in the Dorpsstraat in Sellingen and then take the shortest route to the Hasseberg. We pass halfway the Ruiten-Aa canal where we notice how flat Groningen is. This becomes even more apparent when we arrive at the Hasseberg: we hardly notice that the road goes up and then a little further on the 'mountain' of 14 meters is barely visible next to the road!

After a photo of us at the top we have to go back to the road and walk around 2 houses a bit along a field to get to the canal that forms the border between the Netherlands and Germany. After a stretch along the canal we walk through a piece of nature with Dutch land goats to end up at the Ruiten-Aa canal again.Once we have crossed it we walk into the nature reserve Slangenborg with narrow paths and various water features.

We actually wanted to cross the road Ter Apel - Sellingen to walk back to Sellingen along the other side of the river Ruiten-Aa but because it is getting later and cooler we decide to walk back

to Sellingen on the cycle path along the road and the car for the ride to Harlingen.

7-Friesland: Vuurboetsduin - 45 m

6-Nov-24 - 11 km

After an extensive breakfast at the hotel, we put our suitcases in the car and walk to the ferry terminal to take the ferry to Vlieland. The ferry leaves at ten past nine and takes 1 hour and 35 minutes to arrive at the jetty on Oost Vlieland. Five minutes later we walk off the boat and start our walk over the highest point of the province of Friesland.

We walk eastwards through a beautiful piece of forest dune and over the Sjouwermansduin. Along the almost quiet harbour of Oost-Vlieland we walk to the beach on the east side of the island and over the beach northwards. At the north-east corner we leave the beach and walk westwards over beautiful cycling and walking paths. When we get close to the lighthouse we have to climb a staircase of 95 steps towards that lighthouse which is also more or less the highest point on Vuurboetsduin.

From there we continue our way down in a westerly direction and we come to a very beautiful open dune area with water and narrow paths. From there we walk back to Oost-Vlieland and through the Dorpsstraat to the square on the Havenstraat where the ferry docks. It takes another two and a half hours before the ferry arrives so we enjoy a late lunch in Hotel Zeezicht. At five o'clock our one and a half hour return journey by boat starts and another 1 hour and 50 minutes by car to Ede-Wageningen station and then 1 hour and 10 minutes for me by train to The Hague.