Middenbeemster, Beets, Scharwoude

A beautiful part of North Holland with varied landscapes. Part of the route runs along the straight canals and the characteristic polder landscape of the Beemster. The other part of the route takes you along the more winding Schermerringvaart. This ring canal flows into the former Zuiderzee near Schardam via a branch to the Beemsteringvaart.

You will cycle through an area that used to be marshland and water. In the days of the “kussenmoeras”, a wet, spongy landscape, ditches were dug for drainage. Dykes were built to protect the new land, but there was still little traffic over land. Transport was by canal, ditch and small boat.

Slowly, peat soil developed, but due to drainage, the land subsided. And it still does: in some places, the ground here sinks by 1 to 5 millimetres every year. The lowest point in North Holland is located in the Zeevang, near Etersheim: more than 6 metres below sea level.

This landscape of canals, pumping stations and windmills is also home to the vanished village of Etersheim. Once a lively settlement, it was eventually submerged by the advancing waters of the Zuiderzee in the 17th century. During the reinforcement of the Markermeer dyke, traces of the village resurfaced. From household goods to foundations, and even a medieval sarcophagus.

Cycling between the Beemster and the Markermeer, you see an area that is completely geared towards survival with water: dykes, pumping stations, straight ditches and windmills show how this has been working for so long.