The Hondsrugpad was declared the walking route of the year during an event of the Cycling and Walking Fair. The route of 166 kilometers runs from Emmen to Groningen. It is part of the Hondsrugpad-Hünenweg, a 325 kilometer walk from Osnabrück in Germany to Groningen.
The route in Drenthe goes past Emmen, the largest dolmen in the Netherlands, Drouwenerzand and the Zwanemeerbos. The route takes you along old paths, through extensive forests, heaths, sand drifts and arable fields, past esdorpen and dolmens, the 5000-year-old witnesses of the former inhabitants.
The route was chosen from a shortlist of five titles still in the running for the trophy for the ‘best walking route in the Benelux’. The jury chose the Hondsrugpad because of the good signage, the great variety of landscapes along the route, the concise route description in the form of a road book, the large proportion of unpaved paths and the balanced mix of nature and culture.