The story of Ben Helmink and Jan Steffens
One of the most popular cycling routes in Flevoland is the 93-kilometre route called Eilandhoppen. Thanks to striking passages along Urk, Oud-Kraggenburg, the Waterloopbos and Schokland, this is a route with a lot of variation in the landscape. Emmeloorders Ben Helmink and Jan Steffens cycled the loop on a beautiful, warm summer day together with some members of the Emmeloord cycling club. Their conclusion? "This is a round you have to enjoy."
Name: Ben Helmink and Jan Steffens
Residence: Emmeloord
Cycling club Emmeloord
The cycling adventures of Ben Helmink and his cycling buddies began in 1997 during a visit to SC Emmeloord. The meetings at SCE consisted of playing football on Thursday nights. That wasn't enough exercise for Helmink, Jaap van der Est and Arie van der Burg, however, so they decided that in addition to playing football, they could also go for a bike ride together.
After a year, the cycling group had grown to 15 people. Currently, 26 years after its establishment, there are over two hundred cyclists who have participated in one or more bicycle tours. The Emmeloord cycling club consists of several groups, led by the core group consisting of Ben Helmink, Jan Steffens, Koert van Elp, Peter Winkeler and Marie-José Jacobs, with the latter two having just joined.
The A-group consists of fast cyclists. They make their laps on Monday evenings. Jan and Ben cycle on Tuesdays in the B- and C-group respectively. Those laps are conceived, created and executed by Ben. The D-group, consisting mainly of women, also cycles on Tuesday evenings. The E- and F-group are people who no longer work. They cycle on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings. They always start in Emmeloord, after which the route continues both inside and outside Flevoland.
For the occasion, Helmink went island hopping with a small delegation on a scorching hot day. This is one of the Top 10 cycling routes in Flevoland. As true cycling fanatics, Helmink and Steffens were keen to get to know it. And so the bike was taken out of the shed, the shoes clicked into the pedals for a Sunday afternoon of Island hopping.
Beautiful cycling weather
It was a beautiful, sunny and warm day and thus nice cycling weather when Ben Helmink and five cycling buddies jumped on their road bikes for a nice round of Island Hopping. Their start and finish is in Emmeloord which means first heading towards Marknesse for a passage through the Waterloopbos with all its beautiful waterworks of yesteryear. The men then cycle along the Zwarte Meer and the Pier + Horizon located therein to the beacon of the former peninsula Oud-Kraggenburg.
Special!
Between the orchards of fruit growers around Ens, the route continues to Ramsdijk where a ford is made at the World Heritage Site of Schokland. Over a cup of coffee, the route is discussed in the restaurant of the Schokland museum. From this former island, it's on to the Ketel Bridge where the next island already looms: the fishing village of Urk. Ben Helmink and Jan Steffens continue cycling and, after passing through the Urk forest, talk about the 93-kilometre route through the Northeast Polder at the kitchen table in Emmeloord.
Ben: "The passage through the Waterloopbos, old Kraggenburg, the lightkeeper's house and foghorn on Schokland and Urk is what I remember most. Also the cycling at Schokland of course. Nagele is and remains a special village to cycle through. The stretch under the Ketelbrug bridge is also special! Especially when you are cycling so close to the water with a view of Urk. I would recommend everyone to cycle this route, as it is definitely worthwhile."
Getting up to speed
The enthusiasm of both gentlemen shines through. Even though neither of them is originally from Flevoland and have therefore cycled through completely different landscapes in the past. Jan Steffens is originally from Borne, a town near the Twente city of Enschede. A totally different area from the Northeast Polder. "Twente is a beautifully varied area for cycling, but it is always careful. Lots of bends. And you don't have that here. If you cycle here in the polder, you can make nice pace. Especially when the train is running well, it's really enjoyable."
Interesting area
Even for Ben, who hails from 's-Heerenberg (Achterhoek), Flevoland is still a nice challenge. "When I go cycling the Achterhoek hill ride with the cycling club, everyone says it's much nicer there than in the polder. But I have lived here for 53 years and - also because of my work - I have studied the origin and layout of the polder enormously. If you have an eye for that, it is a very interesting area to cycle in. For many people, the polder is synonymous with long, boring and windy. But the fact that you cycle below sea level is, of course, really special. So I always enjoy the laps through Flevoland," Helmink says.
No heat
The six-member group that rode the Island Hopping cycled while it was over 30 degrees, but afterwards, it was not about the temperature or the heat. Jan Steffens: "This is an experience I look back on with great pleasure as a cycling enthusiast." Ben Helmink immediately complements him: "We have made trips as a cycling group for years with rides over the Alpine and Pyrenean peaks, among others. I also still cycle a lot with my wife, but this round did surprise me. Or well, surprised not. But during the island hopping I kept thinking: this is actually very nice cycling. And it is also nice and close to home. We are all getting a year older, so that's a good thing."