Km 7.1
MOLENLANDEN (POP: 44,000)
The municipality of Molenlanden was created in 2019 through the merger of Giessenlanden and Molenwaard. The best-known locality in Molenlanden is the village of Kinderdijk, with its mills, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Km 7.1
OUD-ALBLAS (POP: 2,300)
It was from this village of 2,300 inhabitants that the designers of the network of windmills that made the region famous hailed from. The village itself has three windmills, including the Hope (De Hoop) wheat mill, which dates back to 1843. The Reformed church dates from the 19th century and was built against the much older brick bell tower dating from 1400.
Km 16.3
NIEUW-LEKKERLAND (POP: 8,700)
The village is home to two of the nineteen "Kinderdijk mills", the Kleine of Lage Molen (small or low mill), built in 1761, and the Hoge Molen (high mill), dating from 1740.
Cyclist Margareta Groen, who won a stage in the Tour of the EEC in 1990, was born in Nieuw-Lekkerland.
Km 20.6
KINDERDIJK MILLS
Built: 1738
History: Deadly floods, such as the Saint Elizabeth's Day disaster in 1421 and the floods of 1570 and 1726, prompted the inhabitants to build a system of dykes and, from 1730, a set of windmills to pump water into the drainage basins. The system was designed by Oud-Alblas architects Dirk Piek and Teunis van Werken, and eight round brick mills were built. A further eight thatched octagonal mills were built in 1740 on the other side of the canal on the Overwaard. Two more mills were built in Nieuw-Lekkerland in 1740 and 1761. A century later, the mills were supplemented by a steam pumping system, and the original wooden wings were replaced by steel wings, which are still in place today. Electric pumps put an end to the use of the mills, which were threatened with extinction, but were eventually saved by heritage conservationists.
Characteristics: The complex comprises nineteen mills, with an average height of 28 metres. The mills were inhabited and run by millers whose job it was to keep a constant eye on the water level. Nowhere else are there so many well-preserved mills in such large numbers. The site illustrates the long history of water control and flood control in the Netherlands since the Middle Ages.
Listed as: UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. National monuments.
OVERWAARD TOWN HALLBuilt: 1581
History: The town houses played an important role in the ongoing battle against rising water levels, and the house in Overwaard has a large room designed in 1740 to provide a view of the mills used to drain the water.
Listed as: National monument since 1968.
Km 22
ALBLASSERDAM (POP: 20,300)
Alblasserdam takes its name from the river Alblas and the dam built on it. The municipality lies close to the Noord, one of the world's busiest waterways, from which the village has derived its prosperity, albeit at the risk of frequent flooding.
In 2011, the town hosted the prologue to the ZLM Tour, won by Germany's Patrick Gretsch.
Km 27.2
BRUG OVER DE NOORD BIJ HENDRIK-IDO-AMBACHT
This bridge over the River Noord is one of the very few in the Netherlands not to have been destroyed by the Germans in 1940. Built in 1939, it was not on their staff maps!
Km 30
RIDDERKERK (POP: 47,700)
The De Oudheidkamer museum is dedicated to the history and heritage of the town.
Olympique de Marseille fans may not be aware that Kevin Strootman, who played for the club between 2018 and 2023 and has 46 caps for the Netherlands, was born in Ridderkerk.
Ridderkerk is also the birthplace of Janine van der Meer, a professional cyclist from 2013 to 2019 and winner of the Diamond Tour in 2018.
Km 38.1
BARENDRECHT (POP: 48,700)
The town's most striking monument is its water tower, a listed national monument. It was built in 1912 in the neo-Moorish style.
Barendrecht's best-known personality is Inge de Bruijn (1973), four-time Olympic swimming champion at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Games and five-time world champion.
Km 50.4
BARENDRECHT (POP: 48,700)
The town's most striking monument is its water tower, a listed national monument. It was built in 1912 in the neo-Moorish style.
Barendrecht's best-known personality is Inge de Bruijn (1973), four-time Olympic swimming champion at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Games and five-time world champion.