Wooden shoes trails are fun! I’ve already picked out the next one. In this blog just a short description of the trail (a trail shortener 😉), a few photos and a simple sketch to illustrate. No need for a hiking map, the info on the wooden shoes trails website is clear enough.
This time a report about the Zandslagen trail.
My experience
The Zandslagen trail is a wooden shoes trail in the outskirts of Rossum and Hurwenen, in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. The trail is 9 km long, but you can extend it to 15 km using two trail extenders. You follow the blue wooden shoes markings from the starting point at De Gouden Molen on the Waal river in Rossum.
Right at the starting point is one of the trail extenders. This one goes towards Fort St. Andries, to the point where the Waal and Meuse river almost meet. I skipped this trail extender, which I did regret in retrospect. In fact, the trail itself was very disappointing. I later went to Fort St. Andries for another nearby wooden shoes trail, called Alem trail. It is a very beautiful nature reserve that you don’t want to miss. In fact, Fort St. Andries is a fortress in ruins where you are also allowed to enter the grounds. There is also a Cold War-era watchtower to climb. More on this when the blog about the Alem trail is finished.
Back to the Zandslagen trail. First, I walk a bit along the Waal river, with beautiful views across the water. After a small side trip through a park in Rossum, the trail goes along the Waal river again. A little further you can follow the normal trail down the dike to Rossum or continue along the Waal using the trail extender. This time I do follow the trail extender. This one takes me past a former brick factory. A wall with a plaque and a brick tower are the remaining reminders of this factory. The loop through the floodplains near the old factory site looks nice, but the trail does not go there. I still walk along the dike.
Trail guide about wooden shoes trails
By now I have turned the corner and left the Waal river behind me. The trail keeps going along the dike and only at Hurwenen do I get to leave the dike. I walk through this town for a while. Then along farm fields with a windmill in the distance. Meanwhile, I have completed the trail extender and am back on the normal trail. I cross a water stream via an overpass (which you can see in the sketch) and continue the trail along a narrow grassy path, with a fence on one side and a water stream on the other. Then I walk through an apple tree orchard and past a cemetery once more into Rossum.
In Rossum, I am sent mostly along boring grassy paths behind industrial areas. From the brick factory onwards, I find this trail very boring, only the apple tree orchard was a nice variety. The trail-makers have done their best to find unpaved paths, but I don’t really like them this time. In the last part of this trail, I walk along the Maasdijk, which is very busy with cars and cyclists. Not a nice place to walk. At the Maasdijk you can also find the transfer trail to the Alem trail (which will be the subject of a later blog).
Instead of going all the way back to the starting point, I decide to take a shortcut to the bus stop.
The photos
Final thoughts
It had to happen sometime, a wooden shoes trail that was a bit disappointing. I liked the part of the Zandslagen trail over the dike along the Waal river until Hurwenen. After that I found it very boring, except for a small stretch across an orchard. The grassy paths in Rossum could not change my mind. In my opinion, a two-star trail: a so-so hike.
Tip: The trail extension towards Fort St. Andries is amazing. Unfortunately I did not walk this part during this trail, otherwise I would have given this wooden shoes trail an extra star.
More info:
Trail: Wooden shoes trail Zandslagen trailWhere: Rossum, Gelderland, the Netherlands.
No. of km: 9 km (15 km with trail extenders)
Hiking date: 4 September 2023
Materials used in illustration: little sketch with graphite pencil
Rating: ⭐⭐
- At starting point: bus stop De Vaste Burcht, Rossum – bus 165 between Den Bosch station and Druten or local bus 267 between Zaltbommel and Hedel. It is then about a 10-minute walk to the starting point.
More so-so hikes
It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes hiking trails are a bit disappointing. Still, the trails below deserve to be highlighted, even though they were less enjoyable than expected.
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