Hiking in The Netherlands

I’m not sure I can write that title without laughing. There’s no hiking in the Netherlands… at least the way we define hiking in California. It’s akin to how I would describe hiking in Kansas - you might have an elevation gain of 15 feet on your ‘hike’.

But we are in Europe. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in the country you’re standing in… check out the country next door!

Laura and I decided to take advantage of Alex being in school to check out some hiking in both Germany and Belgium. Our goal is to find hikes within a three hour drive of Amsterdam. Yes… that means driving 5-6 hours round trip for 3-4 hours of hiking, but, we’re here. Why not? Gas is only ~$8 per gallon!

Our first hike was outside Dusseldorf in Erkrath, Germany. Because we spent some quality time on the Autbahn the round trip time was less than 5 hours. 

Almost immediately after crossing the border into Germany, the terrain starts to change from dead flat to hilly with denser forests. We love living in Amsterdam, but driving through Germany we seemed to breathe a little deeper and enjoy the scenery a little more. We didn’t make it to any mountains, but the hills were enough for this day.

For the hike, we stopped off at our go-to sandwich place for hiking lunches, Subway. No matter where we are in the world, there’s almost always a subway, and for the most part, they are consistent with reasonably healthy food that packs well in a backpack. One weird thing is that Subways in Europe tend not to have Turkey as a meat option? Beef, pork or chicken. Ironically, they always have avocados (from Africa I think).

Our hike was only about seven miles. Although we dipped down into green valleys and crested a few hills, the total altitude change for the hike was less than 500 feet, and probably closer to 300. Although the trail led through mostly wooded areas, we bordered farm fields for much of the hike. The hike was nice, but we left wanting more.

Our next hiking adventure was one I’ve been planning ever since we decided to move to Europe - The Ardennes Forest in Belgium. The Ardennes Forest has enormous historical value. This is where Hitler focused his troops during the Battle of the Bulge in December, 1944. Our hiking would take us just inside the Allied line about 10 miles west of the town of Malmedy where 84 Allied prisoners of war were executed. This particular hike is listed as “Difficult” with an elevation change of 1900 feet  over 6.3 miles. After our hike in Germany, we were pretty sure ‘Difficult’ means something different than what we’re used to hiking in California.

Similar to our first hike, the landscape started to change almost immediately after leaving The Netherlands and entering Belgium. We drove through Liege where we stopped to pick up more Subway sandwiches. ~20 minutes later we were at the trail-head ready to hike.

Our hike started at the Franchimont Castle above the city of Theux. We immediately started hiking down… which is not great. You usually want to start at the bottom of a hike and work your way up. Right away, the trail was pretty rough, rocky and steep. This is a hike you would not want to do in normal shoes. We were very happy to have good hiking boots.

After reaching the town of Theux below the castle, we hiked along the river on the edge of town for about a mile passing houses, churches and buildings that were hundreds of years old. On the other side of town stood our very steep entry into the Ardennes.

The Ardennes Forest is stunningly beautiful. You are struck with reverence seeing a place that is so majestic, all while knowing this was the battle ground for some of the fiercest fighting in WWII. Thousands of soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the Winter months of 1944. There are no signs of the battle now. Just stunning and pristine hiking.

<I took the above image with just my iPhone!>

The hike has lots of sustained up similar to what we are used to. Once at the top of one large hill (small mountain?) we would then descend across a saddle between peaks only to climb again on the other side. All in all, this was a fantastic hike that has us wanting to come back and explore other trails and learn even more about the area’s history.

If this were not enough, we stopped just outside of Liege on the way home to pick up some Belgium waffles. For those of you who don’t know, Liege Belgium waffles are other-worldly. You need to experience them yourself to understand. We in the States are more familiar with Brussels Belgium waffles, which are good, but not nearly as tasty as Liege Belgium waffles. After returning home from our day of hiking, even Alex was thrilled we hiked the Ardennes Forest, and was happy to hear we would be going again… and bringing back more waffles!