Belgium is once again leading the way in introducing a brilliant new idea: point-to-point walking. They’ve had bike knooppunten for years, and recently began to make routes for walkers, based on numbered signs, an online map, and the possibility of devising and printing your own walk. Here in the Netherlands we’re busy catching up, and our signposts aren’t yet as thick on the ground. Utrecht is as always at the cutting edge, and therefore the point-to-point system here is already fairly well developed. We thought we’d put together a walk starting at our newest train station, Utrecht Vaartsche Rijn, following a tiny, winding tributary of the Rhine to an 18th-century former estate (now a public park), along one of the forts from the New Dutch Water Line (started in 1815 – see below), the site of a Roman fort, and back to the station with a snack stop on the way.
Just find this mural at the foot of the Oosterkade, next to the train station. The blue-on-orange arrow on this signpost is part of the point-to-point system. It just means to go this way and you’ll get to the numbered point sign. The first point to find on this walk is #83.