For a couple of years I kept a log of all my walks, mainly to see how much walking I was doing. But I soon got behind with the log, and now I've given up and only occasionally list them in a private diary. But it might be interesting to keep these logs as a little bit of history.
| Date | Description | From | To | Distance | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29.01.2011 | Groene Wissel 29 | Castricum | Castricum | 19km | Last time I did this one was on a hot day in July: this time there was ice on the beach. Still a very pleasant walk, but a touch on the cold side… |
| 13.02.2011 | Groene Wissel 23 | Veenendaal West | Veenendaal West | 19km | A few more bits of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug I hadn’t done before. This circuit takes you out to the very pretty village of Amerongen, then back along water meadows for a stretch before diving back into the woods. A grey winter Sunday morning that turned into a lovely, spring-like afternoon. |
| 07.03.2011 | Visserspad | Katwijk | Den Haag cs | 22km | Fantastic sunny day in the dunes. Well worth taking a Monday off work for. |
| 20.03.2011 | Groene Wissel 54 | Dieren | Dieren | 17km | Another beautiful day - it probably really is spring by now. This walk is cunningly designed in the best gw tradition to avoid duplicating the other well-known walks in this area, and takes you through some lovely, deserted corners of the woods in this part of the Veluwe. |
| 02.04.2011 | NS Kennemerduinen (extended) | Santpoort Noord | Haarlem | 20km | Another small variation on a walk I’ve done several times before: I found a very pleasant, quiet path through the dunes to bypass the beach section, which gets very busy because of the Parnassia car park. |
| 08.04.2011 | Utrechtpad | Leersum | Veenendaal West | 20km | One of my favourite Utrechtse Heuvelrug walks. |
| 09.04.2011 | GW-147 Heerlen | Heerlen | Heerlen | 17km | A rare trip to Limburg. The main part of this walk over the Brunssummerheide is beautiful, but there’s a bit too much (sub)urban stuff getting out of Heerlen and back in again. Interesting for a first visit, but next time I’ll get the bus. |
Easter
| Date | Description | From | To | Distance | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22.04.2011 | ns Warnsborn | Wolfheze | Arnhem | 18km | An unusually warm Good Friday, and one of the classic ns walks. |
| 23.04.2011 | ns Boonervliet | Vlaardingen West | Maasluis | 14km | Not really a classic, but an ns walk on my doorstep that I haven’t done before, so a good way of filling an odd half day. No surprises: I’ve cycled around the area often enough. There are quite a few odd little bits of attractive nature, but they are squeezed in very tight between bathing beaches, golf courses, marinas, cycle paths, the heavy industry along the Nieuwe Waterweg, the horticulture of the Westland and the Rotterdam overspill housing of Vlaardingen. The little ferry is fun. |
| 24.04.2011 | GW-118 Maarn/Austerlitz | Maarn | Maarn | 20km | Easter Sunday and continuing good weather, so I looked for something a bit off the beaten track: as usual, the designer of this gw walk managed to find paths where hardly anyone ever goes, even in the middle of one of the most popular its of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug. The Henschootermeer and the Austerlitz Pyramid probably get busy on a Sunday afternoon, but relatively early in the day there weren’t many people about, even there. My only complaint is that the nature of the route does leave you with quite a number of main roads to cross, and hence also quite some stretches affected by traffic noise. |
| 25.04.2011 | GW-079 Amersfoort | Amersfoort | Amersfoort | 18km | Easter Monday - the sun’s still shining, but it’s a bit less oppressively hot. Very attractive walk - mostly pleasant woodland, finishing with a circuit of the historic city centre, and with a couple of surprisingly short sections of suburban streets in between. The route back into the city along the Heiligenbergerbeek is shared with several other routes (ns walk, Utrechtpad, Marskramerpad) but that doesn’t matter. |
| 26.04.2011 | Visserspad | Den Haag cs | Katwijk | 22km | Easter break is over, but I couldn’t resist taking an afternoon off work to make it five walks in five days! Very pleasant, with a brisk sea breeze to keep me cool, but I did end up almost as sandy as if I’d been lying on the beach. |
Amersfoort
Early summer
| Date | Description | From | To | Distance | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01.05.2011 | GW-16 Naarden-Bussum | Naarden-Bussum | Bussum Zuid | 22km | Very attractive walk through various wetland areas on the western side of the Gooi. Plenty of walking over grassy field paths, but there’s one annoyingly long linking section of asphalt in the middle of the walk. Still, even this stretch gives you pleasant views along the Vecht. The gw formula insists that you start and finish at the same station: in this case following the route strictly would have added a couple of km of street-walking back to Naarden-Bussum station, which it’s easy to avoid by finishing at Bussum Zuid instead. |
| 06.05.2011 | GW-20 Vleuten/Floris-V Pad | Vleuten | Woerden | 17km | I set off with the intention of walking the 18km gw route from Vleuten station, but when I saw that the last 6km of this were mostly on road, I decided instead to follow the attractive route of the Floris-V pad along the towpath of the Oude Rijn into Woerden. More castles than you usually see on a Dutch walk, and some nice polder scenery. Probably best suited for a clear winter day, though. |
| 07.05.2011 | Ypenburg | Zoetermeer | 12km | Variant on the familiar ns walk from Delft to Zoetermeer to fill up an odd half-day. | |
| 08.05.2011 | Marskramerpad | Leidschendam | Den Haag | 19km | This is basically the ns walk “De Horsten” in reverse, something I’ve done many times before. For a change, I started from the terminus of tram 2 in Leidschendam rather than at Voorschoten station. You still have a dullish trudge alongside the railway at the beginning of the walk, but the dull bit is considerably shorter. |
| 15.05.2011 | GW-05 Heemstede-Aerdenhout | Heemstede-Aerdenhout | Heemstede-Aerdenhout | 16km | A relatively short, local one because the forecast was for showers later in the day. Very nice dunes, but a couple of boring road sections to get to them. Maybe this could be adapted to finish in Zandvoort (not a good idea today, as there was some sort of noisy motorsport audible even from 10km away). |
| 21.05.2011 | Veluwe Zwerfpad | Arnhem | Hoenderloo | 21km | The first 5km or so out of Arnhem were familiar from the ns Warnsborn walk, but the rest of this walk was new to me. It runs through the relatively quiet eastern side of the Hoge Veluwe national park. Probably not the most interesting conditions to do this walk, with the unusual high wetland area practically dried out, but with the sun shining, the larks twittering, and the heath practically empty, I think I got my €8 worth from the national park. |
| 02.06.2011 | ns Lage Vuursche | Baarn | Hollandsche Rading | 13km | A short one, because I was walking with less energetic friends, but none the less agreeable for that. |
| 03.06.2011 | Veluwe Zwerfpad | (Otterlo-) Schaarsbergen | Arnhem | 8km | Used white bicycles for the sections from Otterlo to the Kröller-Müller Museum (2.5km) and from the museum to Schaarsbergen gate (12km), then walked the rest of the way into Arnhem. |
| 12.06.2011 | gw Castricum | Castricum | Castricum | 18km | This is becoming another favourite. |
| 26.06.2011 | Visserspad | Den Haag cs | Katwijk | 22km | Always a good standby. |
Summer
| Date | Description | From | To | Distance | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03.07.2011 | gw Voorburg (ext.) | - | - | 12km | Trying out a new gw walk in my own backyard - added a bit on to each end to do it from home. Not exactly earth-shattering, but it does take you through some interesting bits and pieces of park around Voorburg I didn’t know about. |
| 04.07.2011 | gw Maastricht | Maastricht | Maastricht | 22km | Caves, quarries, hills, vineyards: it has to be Limburg. An excellent gw - gets you in and out of the city very painlessly, and takes you through some very nice scenery. The noise of machinery from the giant Pietersberg quarry is a distraction on the first half of the walk: that might be a good reason for doing it at a weekend. |
| 10.07.2011 | ns Utrechtse Heuvelrug | Driebergen-Zeist | Maarn | 15km | An old favourite. Short, not as spectacular as the Pietersberg, but very agreeable all the same. |
| 15.07.2011 | NS Kennemerduinen (extended) | Santpoort Noord | Haarlem | 20km | Haven’t done this one since April, and a fine, sunny day after a big storm seemed to be the perfect opportunity. |
| 22.07.2011 | various | Santpoort Noord | Santpoort Noord | 20km | A few bits of different routes cobbled together to make an attractive 20km circuit through the Kennemerduinen. Santpoort Noord is the most convenient station for getting in and out of the dunes (two entrances to the dune area within 500m of the station). There’s still plenty of scope for shortening or lengthening this: the more I look at the map, the more paths I find… |
| 25.07.2011 | ns Kampina | Boxtel | Oisterwijk | 17km | Haven’t done this one for ages, but it’s always a good one. Made a small variation to the opening section to reduce the amount of asphalt, otherwise it was the nswalk straight out of the box. Muddy after the heavy rain of the weekend, but no problem in boots. |
| 30.07.2011 | Martin van Rossumpad/nsVeluwezoom | Arnhem | Dieren | 22km | The last 12km of this, from Velp to Dieren via the Zijpenberg and Posbank, is a fantastic walk, and one I’ve done many times. I hadn’t done the add-on bit from Arnhem to Velp before, but having passed the start of it in Arnhem several times in the last months, I thought I should give it a try. Quite fun, but nothing special, really. A long alternation of bits and pieces of dog-walking woods with short stretches of suburban streets. The Stenen Tafel would be good on a clear day, and the bit past Rozendaal castle was nice, but otherwise no particular reason to do it, except as a gap-filler. |
| 01.08.2011 | Utrechtpad | Leersum | Veenendaal West | 21km | A lovely day for this one. As the breeding season is over, the paths along the shore of the Leersumsche Plassen were open, so I was able to make the opening section a bit more interesting than the official route. Right at the very end, in the bit of the walk I know best, I overlooked a diversion around an area fenced off for forestry work, and had to retrace my steps - the dangers of doing familiar walks! |
| 03.09.2011 | Visserspad | Katwijk | Den Haag cs | 22km | After a washed-out August, we finally get a decent, sunny day. The fourth time I’ve done this walk this year, but it’s always worthwhile. |
Autumn
| Date | Description | From | To | Distance | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01.10.2011 | gw54 + 27 | Dieren | Dieren | 25km | Hooked two Groene Wissels together to make a day-length walk through the woods and heaths of the Veluwezoom: might as well make the most of the Indian summer while it lasts. |
| 14.10.2011 | gw Castricum | Castricum | Castricum | 18km | Took a Friday off work because the sun was shining. Very nice. |
| 15.10.2011 | - | Ypenburg | Zoetermeer | 10km | Had to go shopping in the morning, but it was still a nice day, so fitted in a quick half-day walk. |
| 22.10.2011 | Marskramerpad | Leidschendam | Den Haag | 19km | Always pleasant, this time with the autumn leaves just starting to fall. |
| 23.10.2011 | Visserspad | Katwijk | Scheveningen | 18km | For a change, did the second half of the walk along the beach, missing out the Meijendel section and ending up in Scheveningen. A perfect day for a beach walk: cool, but not too much wind. |
| 29.10.2011 | various | Santpoort Noord | Santpoort Noord | 21km | Essentially the same loop as I did in July, but including the beach section because it was a perfect day for it. |
| 05.11.2011 | GW 118 Maarn (mod.) | Maarn | Driebergen-Zeist | 18km | This was basicallythe gw loop past the Henschootermeer and the Austerlitz pyramid as far as Austerlitz village, then the first half of the ns D-Z to Maarn walk in reverse to finish at D-Z station. Avoids the rather motorwayish second half of gw118, but is a bit shorter. Another lovely autumn day, despite a pessimistic forecast. |
| 06.11.2011 | GW 10 Den Haag | Den Haag cs | Den Haag cs | 19km | Not a very inspiring day, so I thought I’d give this one a try. Nothing new about it except for making the link between the Wassenaar and Meijendell routes - as I feared, this section turned out to be rather too much of suburban streets. So I don’t think it has any real advantages over doing the whole of one or other walk, unless there’s some particular reason you need to start and finish in the same place. |
| 11.11.2011 | - | Duindorp (tram 12) | ter Heijde | 11km | I was just planning to do a circuit in the dunes to Kijkduin and back, but it looked so pleasant that I carried on along the beach towards Hoek van Holland. |
| 12.11.2011 | GW 07 Zandvoort | Zandvoort | Zandvoort | 16km | The bulk of this walk takes you through the Amsterdamse Waterleidingduin, and is very attractive indeed, especially on a November day when most people are thinking about Sinterklaas and shopping, not walks in the dunes. As I expected, the first 3km, from Zandvoort station to the entrance of the dunes, is a bit dull: next time I’ll take bus 80 from Heemstede-Aardenhout station to the dune entrance and extend the walk a bit. |
| 19.11.2011 | Hollandse Kustpad | De Zilk | Zandvoorterlaan | 14km | Another walk through the Amsterdamse Waterleidingduin, this time following part of the Noordwijk to Haarlem section of the coastal path (as I’ve finally bought an up-to-date guide for it, I’ll have to stop using the old name “Visserspad”). Both entrances of the Waterleidingduin I used have convenient bus stops, so practically the whole of this walk is in the dunes, mostly in woods. Very pleasant, even in November. |
Useful links
- www.eropuit.nl/wandelen — ns “days out” site. For each walk you can download and print the map and directions — some now also have gps routes.
- Wandelplatform - LAW — the national coordinating body for long-distance walking routes: you can see the routes on Google maps and order the official guidebooks (these can also be found in most good bookshops).
- Groene Haltes — Bus stop to bus stop walks in the Veluwe: a similar concept to the ns walks, also based around existing long-distance paths.
- Groene Wissels — unofficial, unmarked circular walks from railway stations. Each has a downloadable map and route description, but they’re best as gpswalks.
- gpsies.com — site with a lot of downloadable walking and cycling routes; can also be used to plan your own walks (tip: select the “osm cycle” map to see footpaths)
