Last week we visited the beautiful heather plains in Gasteren. The heather is still in bloom. A large purple plain, always a joy to see.
Gasterse Duinen is a nature reserve in Gasteren that consists of sand ridges and wet peat basins. The area was formed in the Pleistocene by land ice, meltwater, blizzards and rivers. The nature reserve falls under the Drentsche Aa area, a Natura 2000 area. The Pieterpad runs through the area. In the Middle Ages, this area was a traffic junction. You can hardly imagine it, but the main trade route from Groningen to Coevorden used to run through the Gasterse Duinen. This route ran from Zuidlaren via the Gasterse Duinen and the Balloërveld to Rolde and beyond. The relief of the hundreds of years old cart tracks is still clearly visible on the field as deep gullies. Often the spores are so deep that water remains in them. The Gasterse Duinen consist of an undulating heath landscape. Large shifting dunes and picturesque fens largely determine the appearance of the site. The fens in the area were once part of the course of the Drentsche Aa stream. That is why the fens are in line with each other. In times long past, the course was partially filled up, leaving two large fens. The fens are now known as the Voorste and Achterste veen.
Here are some impressions:
