7km hike from Amersfoort Vathorst to Landgoed Hoevelaken and back

Join us on a 7km hike from Amersfoort Vathorst train station to Landgoed Hoevelaken and back.

From Vathorst Station we'll walk through a residential area for around 15 minutes until we'll cross under the A28 highway and head into Landgoed Hoevelaken. Here we'll walk on a mixture of long forest lanes and smaller winding forest paths. After crossing the provincial road to Nijkerk we'll also walk through the Overbos forest. At the end we'll head back to Vathorst train station via Nijkerkerveen village, some meadows and along the railways.

Utrecht Hiking Community is organising one hike per month. Our aim is not to hike fast, but to hike "gezellig". It's intended to be a mixture of being active in nature, exploring places in and around Utrecht and meeting fellow hiking enthusiasts. Everybody is welcome to join, no matter whether you are a beginner or a hiking pro, expat or a local, student or professional (or maybe even retired). Also you can come with friends, but alone as well. At our previous hikes there were always many people who didn't know any of the other hikers, so it's a perfect opportunity to get to know some fellow hiking enthusiasts.

If you like this idea and want not only to participate but to support us as well, you can help us by making a small donation using this link: https://www.ing.nl/payreq/m/?trxid=L9Z0gDbAfY48ETP1VhKdTHId88RaaaDe
We're using these to cover for our travel costs and MeetUp subscription (about €200 a year for event organisers).

We'll start our hike at 10.30AM and will meet in the tunnel under Amersfoort Vathorst train station. Please try your best to arrive on time, since if you arrive later, we won't make the whole group wait for you. You can however send a message on WhatsApp to +31621177691, so we can send you our live location and you can try to catch up with the group.

For those coming by car, there are a few parking places at the end of the Amendijk street in Hooglanderveen, which are directly next to the train station. At the nearby Vathorst shopping center there are many more free parking places.

After the hike, after arriving back to Vathorst train station, we can go for a lunch with anybody who wants to in the nearby Vathorst shopping centre.

What should you bring for this hike? Good hiking shoes (about half of the route is paved and the other half is unpaved), a bottle with water or anything else you'd like to drink on the way and of course a good mood are the only things really necessary. Also don't forget to put on some SPF.

A few other practical things that are good to know:
Dogs are allowed on this route, but need to be kept on a leash while we are not walking in Landgoed Hoevelaken.
There is no toilet at Amersfoort Vathorst train station, so please make sure to visit a toilet before you depart to Amersfoort Vathorst. Alternatively you can go to the toilet in the library in the Vathorst shopping centre, but it's a 3 minute walk from the train station to get there.
We will make some photos during the hike for on our social media (Instagram: @utrecht.hiking.community). If you don't want to be on any photos, you can still join, but please notify the organisers before the hike.
And finally, in case of very bad weather we might postpone the hike to another date. Right now it doesn't look like we may expect that kind of bad weather, but just for in any case, please check this event for any updates on the evening before the hike.

See you on Saturday!