Routes · South Holland, between the Lek and the Noord
Kinderdijk and the Alblasserwaard
Nineteen windmills in a row, then the quietest polder lanes in the west of the country.
Everybody photographs the mills from the entrance path. Cyclists get a better deal: the lane along the Overwaard runs behind the mills for three kilometres and is almost empty before ten in the morning.
Beyond the last mill the route drops into the Alblasserwaard, a polder of long ribbon villages, each house set on its own strip of land with a bridge across the ditch. Bleskensgraaf and Molenaarsgraaf are the prettiest, and both have a bench by the water.
The return along the Lek dike at Streefkerk and Nieuw-Lekkerland gives the widest views of the trip: the river on one side, the polder three metres below on the other. Watch for gusts where the dike passes between houses.
A junction sequence we have used
Numbers repeat between regions, so this string only means something on the map panels near Kinderdijk village. Check it against the panel at the first junction before you set off.
Where to stop
- km 6Last mill on the Overwaard lanequiet viewpoint
- km 19Bleskensgraafbench by the ditch and a bakery
- km 31Streefkerkriver dike lookout
Dike roads are shared with farm traffic and, in summer, with a lot of other cyclists. Ride single file where the path is narrow and give way at the small ferries.