The Forest Polder Route
The Woudpolder Route, marked in green, takes you through the polder, the shelter of the reed beds, meadows with cows and sheep and nesting birds.
The average paddling speed in a canoe is 2.5 kilometres per hour. With the wind up, you can go a bit faster and with a headwind, the muscles have to work hard. Paddling takes a lot of strength and in the process you train not only your arm muscles but also your chest, shoulders, abdomen and legs. An activity that strengthens your whole body and is fun too!
Around the peat meadow of the Ham and Crommenije reserve area you paddle past, a lot of reed grows in which reed birds such as sedge warbler and reed bunting can nest delightfully. To allow the birds to rest during the breeding season (1 April to 15 June), the area is then temporarily inaccessible. But outside the season, you can canoe through it.
The bog stream Cr...
The average paddling speed in a canoe is 2.5 kilometres per hour. With the wind up, you can go a bit faster and with a headwind, the muscles have to work hard. Paddling takes a lot of strength and in the process you train not only your arm muscles but also your chest, shoulders, abdomen and legs. An activity that strengthens your whole body and is fun too!
Around the peat meadow of the Ham and Crommenije reserve area you paddle past, a lot of reed grows in which reed birds such as sedge warbler and reed bunting can nest delightfully. To allow the birds to rest during the breeding season (1 April to 15 June), the area is then temporarily inaccessible. But outside the season, you can canoe through it.
The Crommenije peat stream is a remnant of a wide, partially silted and densely vegetated peat river. It connected the old IJ to the Schermer, but was dammed up near the village of Krommeniedijk in 1357. The large Krommenieër-Woudpolder used to be the swamp forest (Woud) of Uitgeest and is now largely a reserve area of the Forestry Commission with grassland on clay-on-peat with an enclosure of reed beds. This area is ideal for many water and meadow birds. In spring, lots of lapwings, black-tailed godwits and redshanks breed here, and further on in the polders you are bound to encounter curious cows.
Download the PDF file for the itinerary.
Useful information:
The Forest Polder route is marked by posts with a green band, switching to another route in between is also an option.