I see a lot of people exploring their own country now that the Corona pandemic has blocked off part of the world. My boyfriend and I also decided to enjoy local sights, since our trip to Jordan in March was cancelled. The Veluwe is an incredibly popular national park in The Netherlands, which a lot of people visit every year. We stayed in Otterlo, in a tiny house, which is an experience I’ve dedicated a whole blog post to. Instead of going to the park which could have potentially been busy, we decided to go on a hike around Otterlo. This hike is called “de Klompenroute”, another name is Eeskooterpad. It’s a 15km hike with the occasional optional lengthening or shortening. We accidentally lengthened the hike to 18km.
Practical Information
Name: Eeskooterpad
Distance: 15 km
Starting point: Cafe-Restaurant de Waldhoorn, Dorpsstraat 2 in Otterlo
Finish point: Cafe-Restaurant de Waldhoorn, Dorpsstraat 2 in Otterlo
Public transport: Centrum bus stop in Otterlo
Signs: green signs in the shape of a clog. You can walk the route clockwise and anti-clockwise and both ways are clearly signposted.
Restaurants on the way: Cafe-Restaurant de Waldhoorn (Dorpsstraat 2 in Otterlo), Minicamping De Nieuwe Hof (Westenengerdijk 80 in Otterlo), De Roek/De Hartenberg (Apeldoornseweg 60 in Wekerom), Restaurant de Houtzagerij (Arnhemseweg 100-101 in Otterlo) and Restaurant Zuiderzand (Mosselsepad 70 in Otterlo).
The Route
Carnegie Cottage
The hike starts in the village of Otterlo. It’s a matter of deciding which direction you’re going to walk. We opted for the clockwise one. It’s easy to find the signs and from that point on it’s a matter of following the arrows. The first part of the route takes you straightaway to an adventure.
You have to follow the arrows into cow fields and through private property. Don’t forget to close the farmer’s fences.
Otterlose Buurtbos
The next part of the hike takes you through a forest which is called the Otterlose Buurtbos. It’s right next to the Veluwe and its landscape actually resembles the one in the national park.
It’s only a short walk through this forest (which is a nice reprieve on a hot summer’s day), because after a while you’ll end up in sand dunes.
Mosselse Zand
These sand dunes are part of a nature area called Planken Wambuis of Natuurmonumenten. It’s strange to see these sand dunes in the middle of a country, nowhere near the sea. There’s a path around it so there’s no reason to actually go traipsing around the sand.
It’s quite a rough hike at parts. If we wouldn’t have been so hopelessly lost in the next part of the hike, we would’ve called this our worst part.
Roekelse Bos
Ah, the quiet Roekelse Bos with its endless lenghtening track. We thought following the longer trek would take us along the normal route. How silly of us. We lengthened the route with 3 kilometres and we actually had to walk the part outside of the forest twice.
We laughed heartily about it because it seemed that the trail in this forest was never ending. There are fallen signs here and there (which shows it isn’t a part of the regular route), which made us unsure if we were taking the right way at all times.
Farmers
Once you exit the Roekelse Bos, the only way back to Otterlo is through the land of farmers. We’ve seen an asparagus farm twice, and there are plenty of others along the way. There’s a short trail in another forest which isn’t really noteworthy and then you’re back in the village.
Conclusion
I liked how quiet this walk was. Granted, we did it on a Wednesday outside of the holidays in the time of Corona. However, I doubt it gets really busy as there are a lot of side roads you take on this route. It’s clearly sign posted and the thing I loved the most is the fact that you walk through a lot of different landscapes. Dense forests, farm lands, sand dunes, trust me: this route never gets boring.
