Arnhem, Velp, Groenendaal

Enjoy relaxed kilometres in the open countryside. Fill your lungs with fresh air while cycling uphill. Everywhere you look there are forests, heathlands or drifting sand dunes. You might even spot a rutting red deer, a wild boar with piglets or a grazing Highland cow that will probably ignore you completely. As long as you respect the animals and keep your distance.

Foxes, badgers and stoats run between the trees. Perhaps a shy wolf is quietly moving somewhere nearby and has already spotted you from behind that distant oak tree. You are in their habitat, their domain, the territory of Veluwe wildlife. It is a place where you do not want to rush through on your bike. Take time to enjoy what nature offers in the moment and completely unwind.

Throughout the park you will find several viewpoints where, on clear days, you can see as far as Germany, nearly 50 kilometres away. That may sound unlikely, but remember that you are already almost 100 metres above sea level in these hills. Add the height of a viewpoint tower to that.

Once you reach the top of a viewpoint, you may wonder how the Netherlands can be such a densely populated country. From where you stand, there is absolutely no sign of it. The view is humbling and makes you reflect on both the complexity and the fragility of nature.

Near the Zijpenberg viewpoint, along the Brandtorenweg, you will find the highest point of the Veluwe. Signaal Imbosch rises 110 metres above sea level. Only the hills of Limburg are higher in the Netherlands. Signaal Imbosch itself is a fairly modest sandy hill located on a plateau about 100 metres high. Not a dramatic peak, but a subtle elevation in the landscape.