There are days when you simply want too much. And everything and everyone keeps reminding you of it. The heath however, was quite beautiful.
Nothing like the Dutch heath in August. I used to visit the Drenthe moors with my father. Especially Havelte was a favorite, where we often walked with our dogs. But the purple of the Posbank, where I ran with the Lanzarote crew last year, is unsurpassed in beauty. That's why I took a short break from the Hertogenpad.
Where to start? Of course, I could have taken one of the MST-NS routes. They also go over the Posbank. However, I myself thought the length was a bit too short due to the rounding off of my GVRAT kilometres.
So I decided to make my own route from Arnhem's easily accessible train station. That way I could at least start early. I began by planning almost all of the sights in the area on my route. Some recommended heather paths – even a round trip on the Posbank – a nice old mill, shell sculptures near the pond of castle Rozendaal, a sheepfold, a waterfall, a stream and so on. In about 30 km I also was past station Dieren. Hanseatic city Doesburg was therefore my next goal, about 38 km from Arnhem. I visited the city only once before because of a large photo market, but I know it is a beautiful town in the middle of a nature reserve.
Easy start
The end of the GVRAT was in sight. I would reach the finish line for the 1000 miles during this run or maybe the day after. But with over 400 km of running and hiking per month since May, plus an enormous peak pressure at work because of the start of the academic year, I didn't feel very confident. Even the start of this run was difficult.
Shortly after the station I arrived in one of the many parks of Arnhem. But it felt like a school trip. Not the type where you are completely immersed in the excitement as a child, but the kind of school trip where you have to drag an annoying child along. I was only at Villa Sonsbeek and I already had to pee. That's not really possible in such a busy park, even in the early morning I was never alone. And all the hills in the park – it looked like all the altimeters were here – also led to the moaning of the tired pupil who still had to pee.
The trees were truly a sight in the park. Especially in a place where they stood in a kind of wooden barrel and grew in a circle. In spite of my fantasies about witch circles, I began to doubt the whole enterprise. Luckily there was finally a piece of forest where I didn't see anybody at all. I could finally let go of one of my worries.
Cash register
After the first parks I saw signs everywhere in the direction of the National Open Air Museum. I can really recommend that museum to everyone, because here you'll find a very nice overview of the Netherlands from days gone by. It is definitely one of my favourite museums in the Netherlands. But at this moment I started to get a bit worried as well: where was that previously mentioned mill ...
Not much later the route took me exactly to the museum's ticket machine. Where Komoot usually warns if an area is not accessible, in this case there was no warning. Though I should have taken a closer look at the map myself, the route enters a sort of walled-in place and leaves it via a very narrow (service) road where you are not even allowed to enter with a ticket. It turned out to be the first of several planning errors as I was not only hungry for distance, but also for sights.
Koningsheide
To get to the Posbank, I first had to cross a stretch of highway. On the way there, I walked along the Koningsheide. Wow, that was really pretty purple. But it was only a small heath and I did not want to make too many photo stops until the main heath on the Posbank, so I ran on.
Immediately after crossing the highway, I arrived at a heath with a large number of stones in it. In the middle of the stones is a glass ‘compass’ or rose. Here and there are small stones with names. Letters. The stones are part of the ‘Monument of the unknown child’ a kind of counterpart to the unknown soldier for children who died too early. Never knew such a thing existed, but if you think about it, there are many children who grow up in bad circumstances and die young. Hopefully they will find comfort in the moors.
Rozendaal Castle
Again a fence in the middle of my route. Without cash register though. But the gardens of castle Rozendaal are only accessible after (reservation and) payment, just like the museum. And not via the route mapped out by Komoot. On closer inspection at home, there is indeed a dotted line around the park. But this is so close to the roads, that it is not visible unless you zoom in closely. In this case it meant I had to add many miles to run around the fence.
From the driveway of the castle I saw the pond and donjon. It looks nice, but unfortunately there was no time for a visit this day. Luckily the forest of Beekhuizen, where I followed parts of the stream for a while and visited the waterfall, made up for a lot of missed opportunities.
Posbank
From Beekhuizen it quickly became busier on the route. The Posbank itself was clearly the main attraction. Hundreds of people walked in traffic jams over the hills. And looked disapproving when I ran up a small hill for the view or quickly went downhill. That of course only encourages me. Besides: I wanted to go to quieter places.
Secretly, I was also a little disappointed with the moors so far. The Koningsheide was actually far more purple. The Posbank itself was a bit duller and contained a lot more brown spots than a year ago. But that was also an exceptionally good summer for the moors. That gluttony again. A tip: without expectations, it is always more beautiful.
My own route contained a few pieces that I knew were often beautiful and went in a zigzag across the heathland. Fortunately that turned out to be far from the standard route, because soon everyone turned off to the middle of the heath, while I walked around it at first.
With roughly half a marathon behind me, I thought it was time for a break. I had just crossed the bridge – recommended point of course – and saw some beautiful tree stumps. I could fit on them with my whole body. What mighty trees they must have been. After changing my drinking bags with starch and simple Isostar, I could continue into the hills. Climbing, taking purple pictures, watching sheep. Lovely. And actually far too short. On the way out of the Posbank, I took a Calippo ice cream at the visitors center for my renewed energy.
The road to Doesburg
Don't get me wrong, the last part to Doesburg is quite nice, even though it doesn't really have a large piece of IJssel in it. But the route was a bit of a mess. First of all, my train track crossing was provisionally closed with ribbons and no longer accessible. Again a detour of a kilometer or two. Luckily the mucking about the distance had already stopped, but circling to the next crossing, which might have been closed as well, is never fun. A few puddles in the road to walk through fortunately made up for a lot.
Continuing on my rout I came to a beautiful piece of Dierensche Hank. Luscious marshy meadows, views of the church tower of Doesburg. Beautiful dramatic skies. But it was a bit strange that I had to walk a couple of hundred meters on grass before a real path arose through the fields. I made some pictures of a tractor in the meadow, while the light was strong. But that tractor was getting closer and closer...
The farmer warned me that this is an area you're not allowed to enter. There should be a fence with forbidden access and the paths in the meadows are only to prevent the agricultural vehicles from sinking. The Dierensche Hank is a fully protected area.
However, once again I walked exactly on Komoot's route. What went wrong? My suspicion is that the paved paths have been mistaken for roads by satellite. Because the farmers were busy, they opened fences themselves so that the prohibition sign was no longer visible. I apologized and said I was going to pass on the route error to Komoot, which I've done in the meantime. Again there was a considerable detour. Luckily I was at least allowed to continue a bit along the path to the first paved road. There I thought for a moment that I could follow Komoot here again, but it sent me into the yard of a farm.
Doesburg is a beautiful city, but just a little too far away. At least that's how it felt this day, the day I wanted too much. In total I walked 41.18 km with about 600 hm.
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absolutely amazing. Respect!
Like every piece, very nice to read!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!