Altweerterheide - blue - 3,5 km

You also hike past Klein Karelke, the reclamation farmstead with which Altweerterheide was founded in 1911. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the landscape consisted of heathland, ponds, and woodlands, sometimes dry, but more often wet. In 1911, a grain merchant named Jan Henderiks, better known as Bolle Jan, bought a piece of land of 80 hectares where the farmstead was built. This farmstead was the first house of the later village Altweerterheide.

In the Middle Ages, the poor sandy soils in the area were sometimes used too intensively through repeated logging, sod cutting, and grazing by cattle. Even heathland no longer wanted to grow there at that time. Bare sand remained and began to drift under the influence of the wind. The drifting sand posed a threat to the surroundings and was controlled by planting, among other things, oak shelterbelts. Today, the Tungelerwallen consists of a mix of coniferous woodland, irregular oaks, and open sand. It is precisely the open sand that offers many special features, such as Iceland moss, bee wolves, and antlions, all species perfectly adapted to extreme drought and temperature fluctuations.