Trans Euro Trail – Netherlands

Netherlands TET Day 1
🗓: 31 Mar | 🌍: Sögel, Germany to Ommen, Netherlands

We rode about 170 km (110 miles) on a mix of roads: paved, cobblestone, hard packed dirt, and deep sand. Although the trail never strays too far from civilization, it often felt remote because of the lack of traffic. We saw more horses and cows than cars along the farm roads.

Here is the Trans Euro Trail that runs and winds (notice that I didn’t say climbs since there are almost no hills in the Netherlands) through the Netherlands and Belgium.

Fort Bourtange

Our mules parked together while we enjoy a morning walk around Fort Bourtange.

Fort Bourtange is especially interesting from the air, where you can see the five-pointed star layout of the town and protective moats.
*Photo from Wikipedia

Of course there was a windmill here! After all, it’s the Netherlands!

Some cannon emplacements used to protect the low level fort.

A boy, wearing traditional dutch clothing, carries water in a wooden bucket, back to camp.

A great way to start our morning with some delicious hot chocolate and a ginger graham-cracker.

Time to move along. Fort Bourtange was worth visiting and was the highlight of the day. This is a wonderful place to walk around and experience for a couple hours.

TET Netherlands

The rest of the day was enjoyed following the purple GPSr track through the farmlands of the Netherlands.

A shetland pony (?) poked his head over the fence to get a better view of our motorized mules. 😊

Many of the trails today were hard-packed dirt and lined with trees.

We saw more horse traffic than motorcycles on these roads. We would pull off the trail and shut down the motors while horses passed. I think a little bit of kindness helps ensure motorcycles can continue to use these routes in the future.

I wondered if horses, seeing our motorized mules, would later wonder why their owners continue to ride on their backs 😝 the old fashioned way.

A bit chilly at 5°C (51°F) but sunny. Life is good!

There is something magical about riding a remote road on a motorcyle. Standing on the pegs and feeling the engine rumble beneath me continues to bring a smile to my face.

Chantil won the “first to drop your mule” award. She’ll buy the next meal. In her defense, riding in deep sand on a 440 lbs motorcyle with another 80 lbs of luggage is a challenge.

Highland cows. No need to go to Scotland!

My favorite riding partner!

Most of the day was spent winding around the Netherlands following a purple line on the GPSr. We found the roads to be a nice mix of paved and dirt and seemed to be well thought-out by the “linesman”.

Since it was still early in the season and all the camping in the area was closed, we “had” to stay at a hotel – Hampshire Hotel & Spa in Ommen. A short walk away from the hotel we found this restaurant and enjoyed a pizza and some Coke.

Tomorrow we’ll continue along the route and see if we can make it to Belgium by the end of the day. We tend to travel pretty slow enjoying the attractions and views along the way.

More of the NL TET on DAY 3…