Johans Kayak Site   www.kanoroutes.nl

Langedijk
CONTENT

A round trip of 10 km.

Canoe rentals:

Starting point Heerhugowaard:

A good starting point is at the kayak club Kanowaard of Heerhugowaard. They have a good kayak pier at the Langedijkervaart. To get here take the N242 from Alkmaar towards Heerhugowaard. At the traffic-lights you exit towards Broek op Langedijk. Then at the roundabout you turn right on the Zuijder Vlaerdinge. At the T-junction you turn left and you see the kayak-pier on your right.

Round trip of 10 km. (GPS-track)

From the kayak pier you go to the right and after a short distance you go to the portage point on the other side of the canal. There is a good kayak pier. From here you turn left towards the locks. At the locks you turn right and the left towards the houses of Broek op Langedijk. Follow the canal to the north and then follow the bend to the right. At the main canal you turn left and a little further left again. You see the old vegetables auction house Broekerveiling. Behind it is an open air museum, where you can make a small round. You can not navigate around the auction house because of a low bridge. You return to the main canal (71) and then turn left along the houses of the old village. At junction 74 you turn right towards the Noorderplas. On the lake you turn left on the main canal (75). At junction 77 you turn right. If you go straight on you see the white church of Zuid-Scharwoude. At the end of the straight canal you come at T-junction 78. If you would turn left here you can follow the dike to a portage point to the Langedijkervaart. But as this canal is not very interesting, I advise to turn right at junction 78. You keep to the left near the dike and follwow the signs towards junction 73. The passages towards the lake Oosterdel are all filled in, except one place where there is a narrow opening for canoes. You turn left here and follow the left side of the lake. A little further you come at the small lake named Potterdel. You keep left and navigate towards the windmill. After you've passed the windmill you turn right again. When you come at a main canal you turn left towards the starting point.

GPS Kanowaard aan de Westdijk: N. 52.6729, E. 4.8142.

Downloadable GPS-track of 10.2 km: Langedijk.

Langedijk.

Langedijk.

Langedijk.

Auction house Broekerveiling.

Former shipyard "Houdt Moed" (Behold Courage) since 1794, but it is closed now.

Langedijk.

Church of Zuid-Scharwoude.

Zuid-Scharwoude.

Passage to the lake Oosterdel, for kayaks/canoes only.

Oosterdel.

Geese on the dike along the Langedijkervaart.

Lambs on the dike along the Langedijkervaart.

The canal Zomersloot behind Vennetje in St. Pancras.
This canal will be connected to the waterways of Langedijk.

"The Empire Of 1000 Islands" (Duizend Eilanden Rijk) it was once called. This was the entire area between Langedijk, St. Pancras, Alkmaar, Koedijk, Schoorldam, Warmenhuizen and Oudkarspel. There were probably far more than 1000 islands - fields with potatoes and vegetables all separated by canals. Farmers used to go to their fields by flat-bottom boats and with these boats crops were taken into the auction-house. The fact that the boats went inside the auction-house made this very unique in the world. For this reason the auction-house is preserved as a museum: "Broekerveiling". In the 19-seventies all the canals were filled up and roads were made. Farming had to be done more efficiently and Alkmaar desperately needed room for expansion as there was a shortage of houses. Today maybe a hundred islands remain in their original state. It is the area around the lake named Oosterdel situated east of Broek op Langedijk and this kayak-trip will take you there.

Webcam of the Oosterdel.