Mountain biking in Wageningen district |
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| If you think the Netherlands is just cities like Amsteram and flat polders filled with tulips, think again. In the East of the Netherlands there are huge areas of sandy woodlands. If you cycle north of Wageningen for just ten minutes you are in the woods, and you can then cycle, off-road, for hours, with large areas of forest, heathland and inland dunes. You are in the Veluwe, an area popular with Dutch tourists, but little-known outside the Netherlands. For much of the area there are few restrictions on where you can go. You do not have to stick to waymarked tracks (although they do exist if you prefer that). There are restrictions in 2 areas near Wageningen, south of Wolfheze (where there are vulnerable areas with rare plants and animals) and the Utrechtse Heuvelrug (the moraine area west of Veenedaal and North of Rhenen), where mountain bikers are restricted to the official routes apparently because of the high recreative pressure on the area. |
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13 June 2010 Summer has its disadvantages. The woods are full of walkers, dogs, horses, not to mention other mountainbikers. Fortunately it is still possible to take less well-know paths and still have the woods mostly to yourself and the song of the larks in the heathland and songbirds in the woods make it a great experience. |
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24 May 2010 At the edge of mixed woodland, the cow parsley-filled field fills gives a real feel of early summer. The rain of small caterpillar dangling from the trees might be all very good for the young of the songbirds in the woods, but are less ideal for the mountaibiker. |
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11 April 2010. Typical Veluwe landscape
with open heath and scattered Scotts Pine going over into mixed
woodland. Despite the threatening clouds, the rain held off and
it was a cool but dry spring day. |
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4 April 2010. What passes for a big hill
round here.
Actually it is steeper than it loks here (and the cyclist is only 10),
but it is only short. |
| Map |
Route |
GPX
file (right-click; save as) |
Notes |
| 1 |
Winter route from the Wagenignen Tour Club |
WTC
Tour.gpx |
52 km along one of the
tours
organised
by the Wageningen Tour club in November 2009, mostly in woodland. |
| 2 |
Wageningen Rondje |
Wageningen Rondje.gpx | One hour circuit round
Wageningen (14 km), ideal for a summer evening |
| 3 |
Wageningen Eng |
eng.gpx |
Quick circuit next to
Wageningen
(10 km, roads) |
| 4 |
Renkum |
Renum.gpx |
From Wageningen to
Renkum,
Doorwerth, Wolfheze and back through the woods at Oostereng. 37 km. |
| 5 |
Doorwerth &
Renkumsebeekdaal |
Doorwerth.gpx |
To Doorwerth and back via
Renkumsebeekdaal. 25 km. |
| 6 |
Renkumsebeekdaal |
beekdal.gpx |
One hour circuit in the
Renkumsebeekdal (15 km) |
| 7 |
Sysselt and Gikelseheide |
Sysselt.gpx |
30 km; through the woods
to the
Ginkelse Heide (heath) and back through the Sysselt woodland. |
| Route |
GPX File (right-click; save as) | Notes |
More
information
(Dutch) |
| Rheden
(Posbank) |
Posbank.gpx |
The best route in the
locality,
52 km with varied terrein in woodland and heathland and quite some
differences in height. The gpx file here is from the nearest starting
point to Wageningen; other starting points can be found from on mtbroutes.nl.
Note
that
you
need
to
buy
a
permit.
You
can
get
it
from
the
Natuurmonumentum
visitors'
center. |
mtbroutes.nl |
| Oosterbeek |
Oosterbeek.gpx |
You can start cycling
from
Wageniningen. The route is 36 km with a possiblity to cut it short. To
reach the start from Wageningen you can best go through the woods by
Oranje Nassau Oord, go along the road past the paper factory by Renkum,
then over the floodplain to join the route. |
mtbroutes.nl |
| Veenendaal |
Veenendaal.gpx |
Very short route (1.2
km),
However can be combined with other nearby sites. |
mtbroutes.nl |
| Nijmegen |
Red
route Green route Red and green |
The green route is 18 km
and the
red route is 24 km. They are joined at 2 points to give a total length
of 43 km. This route is number 3 in the top 10 routes from the
Netherlands. |
mtbroutes.nl |
| Amerongen |
Amerongen.gpx |
14.5 + 7 km. Entirely in
forest,
mostly conifers and reasonably hilly. Note that if you do not stay on
the route, you risk getting a fine! |
mtbroutes.nl |
| Ede |
Ede.gpx |
39 Km in woodland and
heathland.
Part of the route can easily be combined with other
routes starting from Wageningnen. |
mtbroutes.nl |
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