t'Botgat

You can see the beauty of the nature

Nice place to take a walk. The watchtower is not much.

Het Botgat shows how people can 'play' with nature. After all, the lime-poor dunes (created after the construction of a drift dike) have now acquired a solid right to exist. Nature in the Noordkop is unfortunately a neglected child, almost every centimeter of the polders behind the dunes is used and exploited, by the way, the soils along the entire length of the Dutch coast undergo that fate. Only here and there is a corner of nature added, such as at Mariëndal just below Den Helder, but that is not successful. Unfortunately, it does not fit in the Dutch spirit to leave land unused, the landscape seen from above is just as angular as we think and when you consider that only 1% of our land consists of dunes ... No, when you If you want to see nature in the Noordkop, you have to go to the narrow strip of dunes, especially outside the high season, because in the summer those dunes and the beach are increasingly exploited. Economy 'for us' simply comes before nature and that will not change for the time being, unfortunately. These limestone dunes of the Botgat are quite unique, they were formed from the sea instead of river sand like the dunes up to Camperduin. They have their own vegetation and bird life and the sand is a smashing white which reflects on all the colors around them, you can see that when you walk out onto the beach behind them on a sunny day. It is the same kind of reflection that the IJsselmeer provides through the underside of the clouds as indirect light to the villages around it. An indirect light that made Rembrandt's paintings so famous. I once emptied my .50 machine gun in the Botgat at the end of the 1970s, how glad I am that it is now a bit quieter. And ... if you want to see a 'Wheatear' again, there are still a few on the spot, but the bird is irretrievably lost so you have to be quick. It is a wonderful walking area: nice and flat so panoramic views, here and there a grazing Highlander and not too many buildings with residual light in the area. Now don't all go there at the same time!

Nice area and nice to walk a not too big round also nice for young children. Maybe they just don't come home clean. .

A former Defense shooting range converted into a piece of specific North Holland dune area. Where once tanks and artillery shots sounded, there is now a beautiful piece of nature where unique plants can be found.