Cycle Track Association Throw And Eemland 1914 - 2014
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The area around Hilversum in the Netherlands is beautiful.
It got its shape in the last ice age
and this landscape has lakes, small hills,
meadows, forests
and heath.
With so many variations in a small area it is very suitable for cycling.
The cycle paths are so attractive that many people use them.
Even on a cold Friday in February.
That these paths are here is because of one woman:
Mrs Pos loved cycling and she was already with a cycle club in the 1880s,
together with her husband who was one of the founding members
of ANWB. Now mainly a club for motorists
but which started as a Cyclists' Union.
When motor traffic increased
Mrs Pos felt there was a need for separate cycle paths.
Away from motor traffic and mainly for recreational purposes.
to build these new routes her husband founded a Society
for the construction of cycle paths in the Gooi en Eemland region
on the 4th of March 1914.
The first cycle path that was constructed was the route Mrs Pos particularly liked to cycle herself.
It started in her home town of Baarn
and went along a now busy road in the direction of the nature reserve
Anna's Hoeve.
From there the route turned north to a forest café named
't Bluk.
The route continued through the heath to the village of Laren.
As this 1922 map shows the society built an entire network a cycle routes
in less than a decade.
Which were heavily used and very successful.
To make way finding easier the society developed way finding signs
in the shape a mushroom.
They would soon be the standard in the entire country.
A table commemorates the birth of mushroom number one
with a replica that is a bit different from the original.
ANWB had other way finding signs
which also have an equivalent today with a similar post.
Most of the original cycle paths are still in use
and marked with a G+E for Gooi and Eemland.
One hundred years later they are still very popular
and used by all sorts of people cycling.
Many of whom are elderly ladies like the woman who initiated them.
She would probably still love to ride here.
These separate cycle routes brought people cycling
the relaxed and safe type of cycling Mrs Pos desired.
She may have paved the way for making it so common in the Netherlands
to separate cycling from motor traffic.
