In the coming period, we will publish in collaboration with our partner Shimano A number of beautiful routes for the enthusiastic road and gravel cyclist. The routes start from various locations in the Netherlands and Belgium. The premise is that you can easily cycle the route and that it gives you a nice insight into the surroundings. Another common denominator? The start and finish are at a Shimano Service Center, where you can have a nice cup of coffee beforehand and have your bike checked out for a while. For our first adventure, we took the gravel bike and went on a beautiful route through Gravelen. crown domain in Apeldoorn. One tip: it won't get any prettier than this in the Netherlands.
Text: Sander Kolsloot – Photos: Ruben Hoogland and Sander Kolsloot
Beautiful Friday morning
It is Friday morning around 9 o'clock in the morning when we take the car to the parking lot at Stappenbelt It's going to be a beautiful day in Apeldoorn. From the moment we leave Utrecht, the sun will be shining in our faces. It's going to be a wonderful day, not only because of the weather, but also because of today's program. Earlier in the week I already had contact with Roelien from Stappenbelt Specialized Concept Store to announce our arrival. ‘The coffee is ready in our lovely coffee corner’, it sounded cheerful over the phone. Or did we already have a route? Yes, definitely!
Crown Dome – what a beauty
Our route for today takes us through the royal family’s royal domains. Not always open to the public, because King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima also need time for themselves in their backyard. But when the gates of the estates are open, there are the most beautiful sandy paths, climbs, and gravel paths to explore. Many also call this ‘playing in the royal domain’. For our route, we first drive a bit on paved roads before we enter Willem’s backyard. You can find the entire route with Komoot GPX at the bottom of the article!
Tips and tricks
What I like is the friendliness of the owners Roelien and Gert. You can’t tell that the business has been partly owned by dealer holding Nieuwenhuijse since July 2021. That’s nice. Both Roelien and Gert chat a little, pour a cup of coffee and we’re basically free to do whatever we want. Our route is still checked and we’re also asked a few questions about whether we have everything with us. On a sunny day like today that’s of course no problem at all. It’s a welcome addition in more windy weather. Then we can take the bike for a quick look around in the workshop. That’s so nice.
Bike of the day
For this adventure we have used Gravel bike rental Two beautiful, solid Sensa Romagna mountain bikes with Shimano GRX The group got along well. The bikes are perfect for experiencing a gravel adventure. If you would like to try a gravel bike, Tomas can help you out quickly. In the meantime, we have already upgraded to the Cannondale Topstone 4, but that’s beside the point.
Let's go
To get to the beloved crown domain, you have to wander around the city a bit. We drive through the park where I was born in 2016. Tom Dumoulin And an unknown Primoz Roglic passed by during the prologue of the Giro d’Italia. We turn and turn and suddenly we see the Palace To get to us. Since we can’t really cycle in the gardens, we drive around to the left. That means we drive over asphalt for the first few kilometers, but the surroundings make up for a lot of that. As it will turn out later, the gravel landscape more than makes up for it.
Right into the forest – beauty
While ours Sigma Rox navigation, which we used specifically for this ride on the bike, indicates that we should turn right; a big smile appears on my face. We are now definitively swapping from asphalt to unpaved roads. And how! We first drive through the forest. The sun is already peeking through the trees, but for now we are still quite sheltered. With the light, we can take some nice photos. We have to be careful not to turn this into a photo tour disguised as a beautiful gravel route. After a few kilometers, the forest suddenly opens up and a beautiful meadow reveals itself. The sun is shining brightly and it is insanely beautiful here. We stop for a photo opportunity.
Long gravel road
This whole long journey, the Hofweg, It seems almost built for gravel riders and to take photos. We keep stopping and taking pictures. Sometimes a little crazy here and there, but that’s okay. It’s part of the experience. It’s very wide here and considering the time of year the heather isn’t in bloom yet. That creates beautiful yellow and brown tones. At the end we turn right and drive along the edge of Uddel direction Nunspeet. We continue driving through a beautiful stretch of forest, just before Elspeet And then, about 24 kilometers into the route, we come across another beautiful double track. Before that, we stop for a moment because a farmer has to drive his cows into the pasture. It doesn’t get much more Dutch than this.
Sand. A lot of sand.
After Elspeet, we take a right and head into the sand. Literally. We put quite a lot of effort into getting the tires to grip properly, but this was still quite a struggle on the muddy sand. A few times I have to put one foot down, because there are small mini hills on the route that I can’t always get the grip on. Anyway, that’s another excuse to take more photos. It’s becoming a kind of long play record; the number of times I say, ‘How beautiful it is here.’ On the wide paths we occasionally encounter a hiker. A kind greeting and a chat do wonders for using these paths together. This segment near Vierhouten is pure joy.
Direction to Nunspeet
After playing in the beautiful sandpit around Vierhouten, we set off towards Nunspeet. We took the sponsor’s headquarters into account in the route to say goodbye, fill up the canisters, and also take a photo. The route here is mostly paved, and in the village you drive over a roundabout and a bike path. No panic: on the way back, we quickly pick up the route again on unpaved terrain!
Back towards Apeldoorn
We turn from Nunspeet over the railroad crossing to the left and head into the forest. Pretty soon the bike path becomes unpaved again and it’s once again a delight in this area. We now continue towards Vierhouten and this stretch of heather is at least just as beautiful. Due to the hills and therefore the viewpoints, it’s a true paradise for anyone with a bike, a camera and/or a nature lover. We pass the pyramids, which we don’t even consciously notice are there. There may be a kind of overkill.
Again through the vegetation
In the end, we pick up a lot of vegetation on the next ten kilometers. Not annoying of course, just the look and feel is really different. It now feels more like you're in Sweden of Canada You’ll see the route keep surprising us with new gems. The closer we get to our final destination (read: starting point), the steeper it gets (or stays). Then you’ll notice that 85 kilometers on a gravel bike are something different than 85 kilometers on a road bike.
Palace gardens overlooked
The latter part is alternating with denser vegetation and sometimes more open terrain. The forests right next to the palace garden offer some more protection from the sun in a warm summer. It’s worth remembering if you want to do this route in the warmer months. We follow the edges of the palace garden, including the staircase to Hoog Soeren. The strain in the legs is a bit more than desired here. With only about 5 kilometers to go, we leave the crown domain and return to the populated world. What a pleasure it was to gravelly over the crown domain.
Catch up, catch up, reminisce
When we pull the brakes after more than 80 kilometers at Stappenbelt, owners Gert and Roelien are waiting for us again. We are full of stories and impressions. Actually, we are a bit tired, too. Gravel biking isn’t easy. The lunch we brought with us goes right in. We need to recover, reminisce, and catch up a bit. Because during the ride, we hardly talked about ongoing matters, except for the beautiful route and the surroundings.
GRX Series Route
Would you like to take this insanely beautiful route one day? See the GPX and Komoot file below. You can download it in our Komoot account. If that doesn't work, send us a message. The route starts and finishes at Stappenbelt in Apeldoorn, a beautiful Shimano Service Center. In our route, we have also planned a stop at the Shimano headquarters in Nunspeet. That's nice for us, but perhaps not a highlight for you.
Information about the Crown Domain
The Palace Park and the forestry departments of Gortel, Hoog Soeren and Uddel form a combined Royal Domain Het Loo. The Loo Crown Estate is the largest contiguous estate (10,500 hectares) in the Netherlands and is characterized by a rich cultural history, great biological diversity and abundant natural beauty. The area exudes tranquility, beauty and harmony in an expansive and large-scale landscape. The Loo Estate has developed enormously over the centuries since Stadhouder Willem III purchased Het Oude Loo.
Royal property
After the death of Stadhouder Willem III, the estate came into the hands of Prince Willem IV and thus became royal property. In that century, the 1700s, the Palace fell into disrepair, partly due to the French occupation. The palace even served as a field hospital. The kings Willem I, II and III restored the Palace and the surrounding park after the decline in the previous century. The foundation for the current crown estate was laid by Queen Wilhelmina. She made the major land purchases for the Crown Estate and, together with the State Estate (Hoog Soeren and Het Loo), these were donated to the Dutch State in exchange for full use. Under Queen Wilhelmina and Juliana, management was carried out according to the German forestry method. Under Queen Beatrix that has been abandoned and now more naturally-oriented forest management is being applied. Whatever that may be. More info? site Van Het Loo has all the information.
Questions & tips
Do you have any questions about this route, or have you been there yourself? Share them here. We read everything and usually respond within a few days.