Hanseatic cities cycle route

Historical towns and commerce are the first images in most people’s minds when they think of Hanseatic cities. And that is absolutely correct! Lesser known are the scenic routes that lead from one Hanseatic city to the next one.

In the Netherlands the route can be followed using fietsknooppunten, a system of signposts next to bicycle lanes with maps that show bicycle junctions or nodes, using numbers for each one so cyclists can map their own routes. In leg six of the Hanseatic cities cycle route the loveliest river of the Netherlands, viz. the river IJssel, leads you from Deventer, via Hattem to Zwolle. Estates and (cycle) ferries are part of this beautiful route. Would you like to discover the surroundings of Hanseatic cities, as well? Then combine the Hanseatic cities route with a so-called Hanzerondje around a particular Hanseatic town. Every Hanseatic city along the main route also knows such a looped route of approximately 40 or 50 kilometres around its centre. This is a wonderful way to discover the hinterland of a Hanseatic city as well.

Discover, for example, the picturesque surroundings of Hattem by following the Hanzerondje Hattem. Straight through the Hattem polder, the village of Hattemerbroek and along the outer dike area, the Hoenwaard. On this route you will pass, among others, the Bakkerijmuseum, the Bakery Museum. This is the largest museum of its kind in the Netherlands consisting of four premises and a tunnel under the street, thus linking two of them. Or meet the castle De Dikke Tinne (lit. Fat Battlement or Thick Rampart, as its nickname used to be). This former castle is located in a forested and wetland area. The house was built in 1646 on the foundations of an old house that was destroyed in the eighty-year-war. The estate, called Molecaten, is also a popular hiking area nowadays. On top of this, cyclists on the Hanzerondje Hattem will also be treated to a windmill, i.e. the “Fortuin” cornmill. This mill originally dated back to 1852. However, in 1982 the mill had to be renovated, because the mill had not turned much, if at all in the preceding 35 years. But today grain is once more being milled by volunteers. Together with the church tower the mill forms a true icon in Hattem’s skyline.