The old rural landscape of Westergo

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The Middelzee was a deep tidal inlet that formed the border between the territories of Westergo and Oostergo within the realm of Friesland. The estuary ran south past Leeuwarden then curved east towards the cities of Sneek and Bolsward. The road that takes you from Leeuwarden to Stiens (Brédyk road) follows the path of the dike that protected the region of Oostergo from the waters of the Middelzee.

On this route, you get to see part of the western shore of the estuary. In the Greidhoek area at the heart of Westergo region, the land is used almost entirely for livestock farming. So the route starts with an ode to these domesticated herbivores in the form of the Netherlands’ most famous cow (Us Mem).

From here, you cycle across land reclaimed from the former Middelzee estuary to the picturesque village of Marssum, where you can have a coffee in one of the oldest cafés in the Netherlands and see the beautifully preserved Poptaslot country estate.

The route continues along a shell-paved path to the village of Beetgum and along the banks of the canal between the villages of Menaldum and Dronrijp. Along the way, you see the Schatzenburg country estate built in the 18th-century by a local patrician and the houses in Dronrijp where the astronomer Eise Eisinga and the painter Lourens Alma Tadema were born.

Next you ride through open farmland to the villages of Deinum and Ritsumazijl and along a narrow cycle path back to Leeuwarden, where inviting terraces await.