On this route you will find special monuments, and we have highlighted some of them and marked them on the map with a dark blue star.
NEWENDIJK
't Kasteeltje
Alexander den Dekker has a house built in 1953 in Nieuwendijk on the corner of the Rijksweg and the Buitendijk, popularly called 't Kasteeltje because of the stately appearance of the property. Den Dekker owned a lot of land in Nieuwendijk and the surrounding area. When the building was built, a rent room with a safe was set up in the building, so the rent that the tenants came to pay could be stored safely in the safe immediately. The Den Dekker family crest hangs above the fireplace. Many administrators descend from the Den Dekker family; for example, Alexander is dike reeve of one of the many water boards. Although the name may suggest otherwise, a dike grave is not a title of nobility, but someone who watches over the safety of the dikes. This dikewarden must have had a lot of confidence in that, after all, in the 1953 flood disaster the water had still stood against the Buitendijk.
ALMKERK
't Hulpgat
The name on the farm near the campsite of the same name has its origins in the nineteenth century. Auxiliary holes are intended to allow the water to be discharged quickly back into the outside water during a flood. The auxiliary holes have been constructed in several places in the dike and are recognizable because the dike is slightly lower there. In the 19th century 't Hulpgat near the campsite could discharge its water to the outside water via the Papsluis of 1815 in Nieuwendijk.
UPPEL
Boat Transfer
Boat crossings were built during the land consolidation around 1960. They were combined with a weir. Boat crossings are still very rare, very characteristic and a remarkable image in the landscape. They are designed to lift the maintenance boat over the weir.
On this route you will find a number of watercourses; we have highlighted some of them and marked them on the map with an aqua blue star
DUSSEN
Kornsche Boezem
The water collected in the Kornse Boezem was discharged in the Middle Ages through the Korn lock, directly into the Biesbosch. A boezem is meant to collect polder water and discharge it through a sluice to a river or outside water like here to the Biesbosch.
Wiel
The farm Dijk en Wielzicht on the dike between Almkerk and Dussen is a national monument. The farm honors its name, next to the farm is a wheel. These wheels along dikes always remind of dike breaches in the past. Also near the water tower in Uppel is a wheel along the dike.
On this route you will find pumping stations and locks; we have highlighted some of them and marked them on the map with a yellow and red star.
With the digging of the Bergsche Maas, three particularly beautiful pumping stations were built at the beginning of the twentieth century "as a result of the law to divert the mouth of the Maas.
The Three Locks pumping station in Nieuwendijk received water from three supply channels from three storage basins. Initially a steam pumping station, it switched to electric pumping in 1935 until the land consolidation in the 1960s. The steam pumping station is now occupied, as are the homes once built for the machinist, machine operator and stoker.
The Bleekkil-Oostkil pumping station in Hank pumped the water away by means of electricity and not with steam as was usual at that time. Thus Hank got its own power plant already at the beginning of the twentieth century. In the surrounding polders, 21 pump pumping stations were built that were powered by electricity from the pumping station. At Buitendijk 140 there is still such a pumping station from 1902. Other pump pumping stations are hidden in the woods along Akkerpad and at Vissershang Harbor. Along the dike on the Steurgat are now two modern pumping stations. On either side of the Bleekkil pumping station are the Vierbanse and Hillegat locks. The Vierbanse sluice is next to pump pumping station at Buitendijk 140 and is still barely visible. HIllegatse sluice bears the date 1699, making it one of the oldest masonry structures in the 1646 dike.
Whoever steps off at the small harbor on the Peereboom sees a glimpse of the Bergsche Maas, the grand water work of the 19th century. The polder workers still toiled with shovels and wheelbarrows before the Maas estuary was moved. The steam shovel pumping station on the Peereboom, like the other pumping stations in Hank and Nieuwendijk, was put into operation in 1902 and served until the land consolidation. All that remains of the complex is the machinist's house; the pumping station was demolished in the 1980s.
On this route you will find a number of mills. We have highlighted some of them and marked them on the map with a green star
Mills
In the polders along the three dikes there are a number of water mills; the Vervoornemolen, the Zuid-Hollandse molen, the Noordeveldse molen, the Doornse molen, the Zandwijkse and Uitwijkse molen. At the Zandwijkse and Uitwijkse molen there is also the Rijswijks pumping station along the Liniepad. It was built after one of the seven mills of the Zevenbansche Boezem burned down. The mills used wind power to dry our polders, but lost their function for good in the 1960s. The mills can still turn, but that is more for show. See the sails turning in the wind? Then feel free to step off, the millers are happy to tell you about their mill.
On this route you will find military heritage. The forts are indicated on the map as starting points
New Dutch Waterline
While dikes were built in past centuries to keep the water out, along the way you also pass parts of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie with military monuments that embraced the water. Of particular note is the Papsluis lock on the bicycle dike near Fort Bakkerskil. This sluice from 1815 lies like a fish on dry land in the middle of the polder landscape and thus reminds of the time when the Biesbosch was not so far reclaimed. The Papsluis is the southernmost inlet sluice of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie. This impeller sluice could be opened both at high and low Biesbosch water to flood the land (inundate). Fort Bakkerskil was built to protect the Papsluis and is within shooting distance of the lock. Fort Altena is the largest fort of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie, the oldest part was built in 1847. Both Fort Altena and Fort Bakkerskil are now oases of tranquility where it is good to relax on the terrace. But once soldiers found shelter here in times of war threat. Another special part of the New Dutch Waterline are the concrete shelters built just before World War II. They provided shelter for soldiers walking in the open field.
New, newer, newest 1461, 1646, 1970
The Sint Elisabeth flood of 1421 turned large parts of the Biesbosch Line into one big inland sea. The landscape in the wide surroundings was desolate. Only around 1450 did part of the land fall dry, so reclamation of the area began with the construction of a new dike from Woudrichem through Werkendam to Dussen. The dike is completed in 1461 and is given many different names, such as the Oude Zeedijk in Dussen. Still today, the dike forms the boundary between sea clay and river clay.
But even after the construction of this dike, the polder workers and farmers continued to reclaim the land from the sea. Thus, in 1646 the "New" dike was constructed from the Schans in Werkendam via Hank further towards Dussen. Along the new dike, the villages of Nieuwendijk and Hank were then formed.
Preliminary completion of the reclamation of this part of the Biesbosch is the construction of the Steurgatdijk between Werkendam and Hank during the land consolidation of the Oostwaard. The Bruine Kil, Bakkerskil, Bleeke Kil and Oostkil were closed off in the 1960s, and so ebb and flow disappeared from the area, but traces of the water can still be found on the three dikes of the reclaimed land.
You can rent a (electric) bicycle from various rental locations. Contact the relevant party for availability and bike rental.
Overview of all our routes in the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie
Activity: cycling