When you visit Groningen you do not want to miss nature reserve ‘t Roegwold after you have seen the sailing ships of the Brown Fleet moored at the Hoge der A, the fabulous Groningen Museum, and The Prinsentuin.
Groningen, Hoge der A en Lager der A
This historic drawer is the most photographed spot in Groningen. Here you will find old warehouses where enormous activity used to take place. Ships sailed in and out and you could hear the rattling wheels and the trampling of horses’ hooves all day long. While walking along the quays, you will pass no fewer than 28 national monuments and 11 municipal monuments. It’s like walking in a painting.
East of the city of Groningen you can cycle along lakes and reed marshes on a 30 km long route into the nature of’ t Roegwold. Farmland that is laid between existing nature reserves is returned to nature. Here you walk on a 750-meter-long wooden club path, the Knuppelpad, straight through the marsh of ‘t Roegwold. About 6,000 years ago there was a forest here, now you will find a swamp that is developing at lightning speed. Tree stumps protrude above the water here and there.
Sailing on Lake Schildmeer
At Tetjehorn while sailing on the lake “Schildmeer” you can hear the deep booming call of the male Bittern in the breeding season echo from the immense reed marsh as you float in your boat along the shore.
Boat rentals: kayaks, sub’s and motorboats
Jachthaven de Otter, Roegeweg 9A, Steendam.
Surfcenter, Roegeweg 1, Steendam
Beachclub & Watersportverhuur Schildmeer
➔ Boatrental Beachclub Schildmeer, Damsterweg 32, 9628PD, Steendam
Birdwatching
A “Kiekkaaste” is the Groningen dialect for a hut specially created for birdwatching. The foundation “Groningen Landscape” has bird-watching huts in beautiful places. Anyone who loves nature should visit these huts. The huts can be quite big and extraordinary architectural creations indeed. The most beautiful hut is located in the extreme northeastern tip of the Netherlands. You can reach this Kiekkaaste, built on piles outside the dike in the salt marshes along the Wadden Sea, over hundreds of meters long platform path. Here you can spot seals and look out over the swallow fields of the Dollard.
Spend a night at Carel Coenraad polder in a “trekkershut”. Follow tracks through a nature area of more than a thousand hectares of salt marsh and seven thousand hectares of tidal flats. The encounter between salt and fresh water makes the Dollard on the Dutch-German border in the North East of Holland unique. In the brackish tidal landscape seals and plants such as the sea aster, mudflats, and waterfowl feel perfectly at home. You might want to wear rubber boots following tracks through this natural reserve.
➔ Hikers cabin at Carel Coenraad polder
Info: from the lock-in Nieuwe Statenzijl you can see the Kiekkaaste on the horizon in a northerly direction.
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