Drenthe
A Weekend in Drenthe
Once Lucy had changed back into her orange jersey and finished the suikerbrood I started to make my way South East through Drenthe. I cycled in this Province last year on my way to and back from Iceland, and I mentioned on the blog that Drenthe is described as ‘a fairly sparsely populated agricultural area’. It is also has a National Park, Drentsche Aa Landschap, with miles of trails for cycling and walking through heath and woodland. Drenthe has been populated since prehistoric times and is home to 52 dolmen (hunebedden), burial chambers.
It was strange cycling on trails through forests after spending the last three weeks riding through treeless, flat, open countryside following canals and dykes
Het Nationaal Gevangenismuseum - The National Prison Museum at Veenhuizen
Of course Lucy had to try one of the cells
A postcard of the 2.000 year old bog body known as the Yde Girl, a 17 year old girl found near the village of Yde in Drenthe.
I left the apartment and visited my first hunibedden near the church at Rolde. There are 52 different sites in Drenthe and they pre-date Stonehenge. Very little is known about them or their builders, but they are thought to be burial chambers built from boulders that arrived in the Netherlands via glaciers from Sweden around 200,000 years ago.
I zig-zagged around the area visiting several different hunebedden
As it was a Sunday there were a lot of groups of cyclists riding ‘state of the art’ road bikes. Normally the cycle paths are a delight to ride but a lot of these Lycra-clad, helmet wearing, weekend cyclists ride far too fast, hog the paths and are a bit of a menace. Why is it that once people put on a helmet they start to feel invincible? I would imagine that for the rest of the week they ride leisurely and responsibly, wearing ordinary clothes without a helmet.
After the German Occupation in 1940, the camp was taken over by the Nazis and from 1942 it became a transportation camp. About 101,000 people passed through the camp, including Ann Frank, before they were sent to concentration camps in Germany and Poland. Approximately 75% of the Dutch Jewish population were transported and very few returned. After 1945 the camp was used as an internment camp and was later used to house refugees to the Netherlands including: Hungarians in 1956, Vietnamese boat people in 1978 and Bosnian refugees in 1992.
Over 100,000 people were transported from Kamp Westerbork to concentration camps
Monday 11th June
I continued to ride South in Drenthe, saw some more prehistoric sites and stopped in a clearing for a mid-morning break to look at this statue.
Then around mid-day I started to cycle in the Province of Overijssel.
Saturday 9th - Monday 11th June
Once Lucy had changed back into her orange jersey and finished the suikerbrood I started to make my way South East through Drenthe. I cycled in this Province last year on my way to and back from Iceland, and I mentioned on the blog that Drenthe is described as ‘a fairly sparsely populated agricultural area’. It is also has a National Park, Drentsche Aa Landschap, with miles of trails for cycling and walking through heath and woodland. Drenthe has been populated since prehistoric times and is home to 52 dolmen (hunebedden), burial chambers.
It was strange cycling on trails through forests after spending the last three weeks riding through treeless, flat, open countryside following canals and dykes
Het Gevangenismuseum
Het Nationaal Gevangenismuseum - The National Prison Museum at Veenhuizen
As I headed for Assen, home of the Dutch TT, and a city that I visited twice last year, I realised that my route took me a few kilometres from the National Prison Museum, Het Nationaal Gevangenismuseum, at Veenhuizen, so I did a detour to visit it.
Veenhuizen was built in the 1820s by the Society of Benevolence as a colony to provide work and housing for the poor and homeless. It later became a reform housing colony and was one of only two colonies within a country’s own borders, the other being Botany Bay in Australia. Until the 1980s it was a prison with staff living in the village and was treated as private companies’ grounds where the police had no jurisdiction. It is now the National Prison Museum and tells the history of prison life and criminal law in the Netherlands.
Of course Lucy had to try one of the cells
From Veenhuizen I cycled to Assen to visit the Drentsmuseum. I had read that this has one of the best collections of Bog People in the world which, unfortunately they only show to pre-booked groups. But the museum has a floor devoted to prehistoric Drenthe and is well worth a visit.
A postcard of the 2.000 year old bog body known as the Yde Girl, a 17 year old girl found near the village of Yde in Drenthe.
I continued through Rolde and found my accommodation for the night. This was at a country house hotel-restaurant set in the woods and when I arrived I was up-graded to an apartment and had an evening meal package. I found out that it was one of the best restaurants in Drenthe and people travel for miles to eat there. While I was having a late afternoon beer on the patio I saw the chefs out in the garden picking herbs and vegetables for the evening meal. It was one of the best meals I have ever eaten and for breakfast there were strawberries picked that morning and freshly laid eggs from their own chicken.
Part of my apartment, I think there had been a late cancellation that they wanted to fill.
Following the Hunebedden Trail
I left the apartment and visited my first hunibedden near the church at Rolde. There are 52 different sites in Drenthe and they pre-date Stonehenge. Very little is known about them or their builders, but they are thought to be burial chambers built from boulders that arrived in the Netherlands via glaciers from Sweden around 200,000 years ago.
I zig-zagged around the area visiting several different hunebedden
As it is an acricultural area I also cycled past lots of very expensive-looking farms. Most of the farm houses are very large and mainly thatched.
As it was a Sunday there were a lot of groups of cyclists riding ‘state of the art’ road bikes. Normally the cycle paths are a delight to ride but a lot of these Lycra-clad, helmet wearing, weekend cyclists ride far too fast, hog the paths and are a bit of a menace. Why is it that once people put on a helmet they start to feel invincible? I would imagine that for the rest of the week they ride leisurely and responsibly, wearing ordinary clothes without a helmet.
Most of the ‘racing’ club cyclists wear brightly coloured cycling jerseys and ride in groups of ten or more. But I didn’t get a photo of them as I was too busy trying to keep out of their way
Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork
I visited Kamp Westerbork, the wartime transportation camp. A sobering and harrowing experience. Ironically the camp was built by the Dutch government to house refugees who were fleeing Germany after Krystallnacht.
After the German Occupation in 1940, the camp was taken over by the Nazis and from 1942 it became a transportation camp. About 101,000 people passed through the camp, including Ann Frank, before they were sent to concentration camps in Germany and Poland. Approximately 75% of the Dutch Jewish population were transported and very few returned. After 1945 the camp was used as an internment camp and was later used to house refugees to the Netherlands including: Hungarians in 1956, Vietnamese boat people in 1978 and Bosnian refugees in 1992.
Over 100,000 people were transported from Kamp Westerbork to concentration camps
Monday 11th June
I continued to ride South in Drenthe, saw some more prehistoric sites and stopped in a clearing for a mid-morning break to look at this statue.
Then around mid-day I started to cycle in the Province of Overijssel.
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