A historic cart track has been opened on the Hijkerveld. The walking route is an addition to the existing route with purple posts.
At the Blauwboersbos where both burial mounds and cart tracks are visible, a specially designed bank cart and information panel have been placed. The bank trolley was put into use by screwing on a text plate by the maker Sil Mulder.
Roelof Matien, amateur historian and volunteer at Het Drentse Landschap, has unveiled the information panel. “This gives extra meaning to the area, our origins and ancestors. I find it fascinating to work with that.”
The Hijkerveld is one of the largest heathlands in Drenthe. Parts of this landscape were used as residential areas until the Iron Age. Farmers used small, walled raed fields, the so-called Celtic fields. Remains of these prehistoric fields can be found on the Hijkerveld. Other visible signs of early habitation are burial mounds and cart tracks.
Joop Hellinga, administrator at Stichting Het Drentse Landschap, became very enthusiastic when Matien came up with new information. “Then Roelof brings this up and explains it completely, in detail,” says Hellinga. It got the manager thinking. “Then you have to do something with it, because people have to be able to see and experience it. That’s why we are there as a landscape in Drenthe.”
Watch the opening of the historic walking trail (article continues below the video):