Alblasserdam, Kinderdijk, Ammerstol, Bleskensgraaf

Much of the Netherlands lies below sea level. What is now done with pumping stations used to be done with mills: pumping away excess water in the low-lying areas. With the reclamation of Alblasserwaard, the peat soil also lost mass and so the land became even lower. So mills took on an even more important function in the water management of these polders.

The Alblasserwaard used to have 150 mills. Nowadays, you will have to make do with 'only' 53 mills, 48 of which are water mills. You will see that the water in the ditches is often much deeper on one side than on the other. When all 150 mills were still there, they pumped the water a metre higher into the low storage basins of the Nederwaard and Overwaard. Nowadays, the pumping stations do that.

You will pass the Kinderdijk mills, among others. These 19 mills are almost all ground-sailors. These are mills that are operated from the ground. The 'smaller' appearance means that the sails also turn closer to the ground. Here on the Nederwaard you will also find a museum mill, a nice place to take a look at this piece of history from the inside. The mills you see here pumped the water from the polder towards the river Lek.

Just past junction 9, you can see the Peilmolen windmill. This mill sat in the deepest part of the worth. When the water got too high and thus had to be ground, the miller would hang a lamp in the sails, turning the mill into a kind of lighthouse. The signal was passed on by all the millers as far as Kinderdijk. In this way, the millers communicated throughout the Alblasserwaard!