Wapserveen

It was mostly sunny today but with a bitterly cold head wind most of the way. I had studied google maps last night to work out the best course

Odoornerveen, Schoonoord, orvelte,Westerbork then Beilen

When the sides of the roads are trimmed here, it’s not wasted. He fires it into the bin then presumably gives it to a farmer

Orvelte. What a beautiful old village. All original old buildings and roads. It’s become a popular tourist spot now and you can take a tour of the village in a horse and cart

Then Beilen. It’s on the railway line to Amsterdam. It’s hard to believe there’s a heat wave further south. We’re STILL cold

This is still the province of Drenthe. We’ll be in Friesland tomorrow. The green areas are national parks and we’re swinging south to ride through Dwingelderveld.

Near the town of Spier we saw these 2 mowing around a monument and went in to take a look.

10th April 1945. The day before the war ended, German soldiers were marching 22 prisoners from the area, suspected of helping the allies . They shot them here. The old chap on the left cares for the place because several of his family were among those killed.

This is a beautiful national park but the radio telescope looks out of place. There are camping grounds in and around the park and we saw hundreds of people out tramping or riding

Our host Ingrid came out to meet us then after we had showered and had a couple of beers , took us to see the Hunebedden in her car.

It would have been covered in sand with just the tops of the higher boulders showing

As you ride through Drenthe you’ll often see boulders from that ice age , as a showpiece outside gates. Holland is bare of any rocks or metal pits so they look so out of place but are obviously prized

This mound about 100 meters away , was moved and buried by the Germans during WW2 to make way for an airstrip. It was replaced after the war as best it could be by using maps and old photos

There was a restaurant near the Hunebedden so we had a meal before Ingrid came back to pick us up

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Published by Wallis Don