Haulerwijk, Fochteloo, Norg

According to Wikipedia, culture is: "That which humans create and transmit. The term is opposed to nature and refers to human activity." According to the dictionary, culture stands for: "The set of norms, values, traditions, rules and artistic expressions of a country, people or group." In short, it is a broad concept. For this cycle route through Norg, Fochteloo and Haule, we found a number of interesting stepping-off points that are fully in line with the concept of culture. And despite the fact that, according to Wikipedia, culture is directly opposite nature, it goes hand in hand on this beautiful cycle route.

You can park your car at Kerkstraat or Hoofdweg in the Frisian town of Haulerwijk and start the route at junction 95. From there, you cycle straight through the Blauwe Bos towards Haule. The Blauwe Bos was created in the 1930s by Lambertus Kok and his wife Grietje Wijchman. Around the house they had built, the couple planted Douglas and Sitka spruce trees on the 17 hectares of land they owned. Tree species with a bluish glow. It turned out to be the beginning of the Blue Forest, which expanded into a forest of some three hundred hectares between 1935 and 1960 and is now owned by the Forestry Commission.

Via the small entrepreneurial village of Haule, you cycle towards the beautiful Fochteloërveen. You pass the beautiful outskirts of Oosterwolde and Lara Aldewereld's old farm. In her flower nursery and picking garden, culture and nature come together in the best possible way. In season, you can pick a beautiful colourful bouquet here as a living memento of this special route. The Fochteloërveen is an impressive nature reserve on the border of Friesland and Drenthe. It is a soaking wet nature reserve with raised bog and peat mosses and habitat for rare plant and animal species. Take the time to enjoy all this natural beauty here, for example by taking a look in the bird-watching cabin.

Meanwhile, you have unwittingly cycled into the province of Drenthe. At Westervelde you will find an original Drenthe dolmen, part of the Funnel Beaker Culture. On a route about culture, a hunebed is of course a must. Hunebed D2 has been restored several times, but the contents of the burial vault, dating from 4400 BC, have never been examined and are probably still intact. In the next village: Norg, you'll find the more contemporary cultural stepping stones. You can visit an antique shop, a gallery and a mill. Via the green farmlands and the beautiful Beekdal Slokkert, you cycle back to Haulerwijk and conclude a day full of cultural and natural delights!