This 58.5 km cycle route takes you both through the Horsterwold in Zeewolde, which is the largest contiguous deciduous forest in the Netherlands, and through the Almere city forests Cirkelbos and Kathedralenbos. In the latter forest, you will find the landscape artwork ‘the green cathedral’.
At 3,700 hectares, the Horsterwold is the largest continuous deciduous forest in the Netherlands. The forest is of special ecological value. This is because it has a soil of clayey soil. At the edges, the forest is mainly for timber production, but in the middle of the Horsterwold, nature can take its course undisturbed.
The Cirkelbos is one of Almere's Stadsbossen.…
This 58.5 km cycle route takes you both through the Horsterwold in Zeewolde, which is the largest contiguous deciduous forest in the Netherlands, and through the Almere city forests Cirkelbos and Kathedralenbos. In the latter forest, you will find the landscape artwork ‘the green cathedral’.
At 3,700 hectares, the Horsterwold is the largest continuous deciduous forest in the Netherlands. The forest is of special ecological value. This is because it has a soil of clayey soil. At the edges, the forest is mainly for timber production, but in the middle of the Horsterwold, nature can take its course undisturbed.
The Cirkelbos is one of Almere's Stadsbossen. This forest is a beautiful form of land art and was designed by landscape architect Christiaan Zalm. Here, the straight lines of the polder forest are interrupted by circular forest patches consisting of poplars, willows and alders, with beech trees at the edge.
Like the Circle Forest, the Cathedral Forest is one of the City Forests. In 1978, artist Marinus Boezem came up with an unusual plan, dubbed the ‘Gothic Growing Project’. His idea: build a cathedral for Almere, made of poplars. He based the design of this green cathedral on the Nôtre Dame of Reims, because he sees this famous cathedral as the culmination of a man-made space. A second cathedral was later created, but this time no trees were planted, but instead an open space between trees was created in which concrete posts mark the outline of the cathedral. These two green cathedrals are the same size as the real Reims cathedral.
