Opdracht
Signposting the Dutch-German Oranjeroute; a cross-border cycling tour from Apeldoorn to Moers, Germany. 200 wonderful kilometres of cycling along the rich history of the Dutch royal house of Oranje-Nassau. 

Created
We signposted this route and provided frames with information panels at four locations. The entire network was digitalised with sign passports for both the German land registry and Dutch route offices.

    
On bottle piles               On intermediate markers     Signposting in Germany

  
Information panel

Customer
Project group ‘In het spoor van de Oranjes’

Assignment
– Designing and realising two (identical) information panels located next to two new artworks in the municipality of De Bilt.
– Designing and realising two (identical) information panels located near the tank barriers in Bunnik.

Created
– Two (identical) information panels, designed in the house style of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie. The panels are mounted on custom-made, steel frames and stand next to two artworks on both cycle paths along the Utrechtseweg in De Bilt. The artworks visualise a tank barrier built here in World War II.

– Two (identical) information panels, designed in the house style of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie. The panels are mounted in dark green, aluminium frames and stand next to two tank barriers at fort Rijnauwen. The artworks visualise a tank barrier built here in World War II.

Customer
– Province of Utrecht (panels in De Bilt)
– Municipality of Bunnik (panels as fort Rijnauwen in Bunnik)

Assignment
With the construction of the new walking network, the municipalities of Alphen a/d Rijn, Kaag & Braassem, Nieuwkoop and Zoeterwoude want to increase walking opportunities in and around the Rhine and Veen region and Zoeterwoude. Walking is good for your health. Tourists and recreationists need to be motivated to walk here. Get the local entrepreneurs who derive their income from the tourism sector enthusiastic to make creative use of the network and promote this too. With the ultimate goal of attracting tourists who will spend more in the area, e.g. at restaurants along the way or other entrepreneurs.

Created
On 10 February 2017, the new Walking Nodes Network Rijn- en Veenstreek and Zoeterwoude was officially opened. Existing farmland walking routes are part of this, in addition, the network has been substantially expanded.

Walking network Rijn- and Veenstreek & Zoeterwoude consists of:

• Over 450 km of walking network (paved and unpaved)
• Over 300 junction poles
• 35 information panels
• Bridges, decks and footbridges
• Various theme routes

• Promotion includes:
  • Business model
  • Junction map of the area
  • Multi-day arrangements
  • Presence and promotion at the annual Walking and Cycling Fair
  • Putting together promotional products with entrepreneurs

Customer
Municipalities Alphen a/d Rijn, Kaag & Braassem, Nieuwkoop and Zoeterwoude

Assignment 
Designing and realising an information panel and children’s route to tempt children from the residential area of Overvecht (Utrecht) to play outdoors in the nearby Gagelbos.

Created
The Gagel route: a children’s route for children aged between 4 and 12. A colourful route that connects city and countryside and challenges them to play and go outside. It also playfully highlights the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie, of which the Gagelbos is a part.

The Gagel route starts at the information panel at Stadsboerderij Gagelsteede in the Overvecht district. Children can take a Challenge Card from the storage box. They can use it to walk from the centre of Overvecht into the Gagelbos. On the way and in the forest, they are challenged to do challenges. This way, they discover the Gagelbos and learn about the history of this special piece of nature.

The children’s route runs through the landscape of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie, the largest national monument in the Netherlands. This unique primal Dutch defence system was built between 1815 and 1940. The line runs from Muiden to the Biesbosch and has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Furthermore, at one of the bunkers in the Gagelbos, there is an information panel for children explaining the forest, nature and the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie. The panel is designed in the house style of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie.

The children’s route consists of:

• route using coloured dots on paving stones and coloured posts in the Gagelbos
• tasks on the route (walk backwards and follow the line, jump, sundial – what time is it? etc.)
• labyrinth consisting of coloured poles
• information panel on Speelbos Gagelbos
• information panel on the Gagel route with storage box for the challenge cards
• various ‘specials’ in combination with the Challenge card, such as bird silhouettes and silhouettes of soldier attributes
• wooden poles with pictures of animal tracks
• signs with various directions

Customer
Province of Utrecht and Staatsbosbeheer

Assignment
Producing and placing 3 corten steel plates with lines of poetry for 3 group shelters on the ‘Bunker Trail’ in Bunnik. These concrete shelters were built during WWI and are part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie.

Created

Custom-made corten steel plates into which the letters of the lines of poetry have been cut out. In the open air, the plates take on a characteristic brown-red rust colour, so that the texts become clearly legible against the grey, concrete background.

As an ode to the landscape around the renewed Bunker Trail in Bunnik, Onno Kosters of the Utrecht City Poets’ Guild wrote the poem ‘Behind the scenes’. In the poem, the immediate surroundings of the Bunker Trail are brought to life. Readers are urged to use their senses and thus, as they walk, reflect on what really matters: earth, water, air. Walkers can read the poem on three bunkers along the path. The Bunkerpad allows you to walk from Fort Vechten to Fort Rijnauwen (and visa versa). The area is part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie, the Netherlands’ largest national monument and nominated for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Customer
Province of Utrecht

Assignment
Bring attention to the special, wooden houses from the period of the New Dutch Waterline (NHW) to tourists/visitors. The aim is to let tourists/visitors around Utrecht cycle through the landscape of the NHW and let these visitors share in the stories surrounding this line. The route has 3 different starting points.

Created
A 20-page brochure whose function is to tempt people to cycle the Wooden Houses, Stone Forts cycle route. This brochure describes the route and provides information (points of interests) about the NHW and the wooden houses the route passes. A fold-out map gives recreational cyclists a good overview of the route and points of interest. In addition, the cycle route has been digitised.

Wooden Houses, Stone Fortresses consists of:

• Detailed route booklet including overview map
• Digital cycling route

Customer
Province of Utrecht

Assignment
To bring a walking route in Noorderpark Ruigenhoek, a special recreational and natural area between De Bilt and Utrecht, to the attention of potential walkers by enriching the route with promotional tools, distribution channels and experiences.
The aim of the route is to tempt residents to walk around the area and let visitors from outside the area share in the stories surrounding the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie.

Created
The walking route has been digitalised and enriched with information such as audio, texts, photos and videos.
The route is offered as a free route in the RoutAbel App. The routes can be used on iPhone and Android devices.
At the car park of Ruigenhoek (Gageldijk), at junction 21, a clickboard has been added on a lectern of the walking route network. This sign aims to tempt visitors to take the walking route. It has an appealing design in the NHW house style and also directly communicates the junction numbers, so hikers can photograph them and have immediate access to the route directions.

Noorderpark Ruigenhoek consists of:

• Digital walking route
• Clickboard

Customer
Province of Utrecht

Assignment
Among the authorities in the Vianen – Culemborg – Leerdam – Gorinchem area, there was an ambition to develop a tourism and recreational product around Jan Blanken. Jan Blanken was a hydraulic engineer who played an important role in important hydraulic engineering projects in the area and the Netherlands. In 1987, a 75-kilometre cycle route was developed as a result of an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum on Jan Blanken. This cycle route was updated and turned into a tourist product which should be an economic engine as well as a link between entrepreneurs and municipalities in the region. The route should become the basis for cooperation in the region.

Created
A weatherproof flyer to follow the Jan Blankenroute (75 km), which runs along the junction network. These junctions are indicated on a tear-off strip that can be attached to bicycle handlebars with the help of an included ribbon. The flyer also includes a map of the route with the starting points and some points of interests are briefly described. It also suggests experiencing a related route. This is the existing AbelLiferoute ‘Waterworks’, a digital cycling route of 29 km from Vianen. The brochure’s function is to tempt people to cycle the route.

The Jan Blanken route consists of:

• Weatherproof flyer with tear-off strip (junctions)
• Ribbons with the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie logo to attach to the handlebars

Customer
Region Alblasserwaard-Vijfheerenlanden

Assignment
With this project, we want to contribute to the growth of awareness of cultural history and experience of nature and landscape among ‘de Mienskip’ (the local population) and its guests. We also want to stimulate cultural tourism and the experience of nature in South-West Friesland by renewing and improving the range of tourism products. The aim is also to establish Friesland as a region for pilgrimage. More tourists, more spending, longer stays and thus a stronger tourist economy.

Created
The St. Odulphuspad is a multi-day walking route along the most beautiful things South-West Friesland has to offer. The hiker passes by vanished monasteries, medieval churches, beautiful lakes, surprising hills and forests. The trail also passes through seven of the Frisian eleven towns. In total, the hiking trail is over 260 kilometres long and consists of 15 sections.

This hiking trail was developed from the region’s DNA. Religion once shaped this area. Missionaries like Boniface, Willibrord and Odulphus travelled to the north to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. Odulphus’ followers founded monasteries and courts. The monks built dikes to reclaim new land. This is how today’s landscape was formed. The St Odulphus trail tells the stories of the past and connects all the beauty of its legacy. Besides the pearls of the area, this walking route also connects the entrepreneurs in this region. They support this initiative and aim to increase tourist spending in South-West Friesland by more than 300,000 euros per year.

An integral approach was chosen: a beautiful book with a stamp card and 15 routes that can be travelled using both the walking network and the RoutAbel app as a guide. The app takes walkers on the nicest paths and treats them to special stories. A total of 29 information panels have been installed along the route. Together with various marketing and promotional campaigns, the St. Odulphus path is firmly placed on the map: for the best experience of all the beauty of South-West Friesland, choose the St. Odulphus path.

In the meantime, the third, fully updated edition of the book has been published. This edition includes a QR code for RoutAbel: with this, you can very easily download all routes on your smartphone.

The project St. Odulphuspad consists of:

• A book with the 15 routes and a stamp card
• QR code for 15 digital routes in the RoutAbel app, including 4 additional St Odulphuspad circular hikes
• 29 information panels spread throughout the route
• 4 day walks in the RoutAbel app

When one has walked all the routes and stamped all 15, one can order a special souvenir: the St Odulphus artefact, made of wood excavated from the site of the so-called ‘third Odulphus monastery’ in Hemelum.

Customer
Foundation Lytse Marren

Assignment
Designing and producing seven stands for the Fitpad, located at sports park the Elze in Lochem.

Created
7 panels in wooden frames scattered along the Fitpad Lochem.

Fitpad Lochem consists of:

• 7 panels with fitness exercises

Customer
Municipality of Lochem

Assignment
To bring the Claercamp trail, a walk from the St Jacobiparochie (North Friesland) to Zoutkamp (Groningen), to the attention of potential walkers by means of a brochure and an information panel. The aim of this route is to tempt residents/tourists to walk the route.

Created

A walking booklet in which the multi-day walk (75 km) can be followed via junctions. In addition to these nodes, a short impression of the route, some places of interest, an overview map of the route and three day routes from Dokkum are listed.
The Claercamp path links the pilgrims’ route St Jabikspaad in Het Bildt with the Lauwerszee and the province of Groningen. The footpath is named after the Claercamp Monastery: from the 12th to the 16th century, the largest mother monastery in the north of the country.

An information panel has been placed near the former monastery Claercamp with the aim of inviting the hiker to further explore the area on foot.

The Claercamppad consists of:

• Hiking booklet
• An information panel with appealing content

Customer
Foundation Santiago aan het Wad

Assignment
In 1918, a group of young Groninger artists founded Kunstkring De Ploeg. The Groninger Museum selected 25 Ploeg paintings that can be linked to the place where they were (possibly) painted or where De Ploeg members found inspiration for the works on display. In cooperation with Groningen architecture centre Platform GRAS, replicas of the selected works have been placed in the city and surrounding areas. With the free bicycle route ”De Ploeg Hotspots”, you will cross the Groningen of De Ploeg.

Created
Specifically for the Ploeg Year (1918-2018), a beautiful cycle route along 19 of the 25 hotspots has been created. The Groninger Museum is the starting and finishing point of this 40-kilometre route. The route is a combination of cycling junctions and described directions.

AbelLeisure developed the cycle route, provided the route description and digitised the route to GPX format.

Customer
Groninger Museum and Platform Gras

Assignment
Between Haarlem, Alkmaar and Zaanstad lies an extraordinary piece of North Holland. This is where the Oer-IJ flowed thousands of years ago. An erratic branch of the Rhine, which flowed into the sea at Castricum. A unique landscape. A residents’ initiative was launched to put this beautiful area on the map as an earth monument.

A connection must be made for a wide audience between the information from the exhibition in the Huis van Hilde (archaeological centre of the province of North Holland) and the opportunities to learn about the landscape where that history is still tangibly present.

The aim of the project is to raise the profile of the Oer-IJ and make consumers aware of the special values this area represents. This also works towards increasing the number of visitors and tourist and recreational spending.

Created
Experience the Oer-IJ is divided into two parts that are conceptually linked. These are the components:

1. Virtual Outdoor Museum Oer-IJ
The virtual “Outdoor Museum” is a museum by bike which is partly digital and partly physical. It is a virtual museum on your smartphone that starts at the Huis van Hilde. You are then navigated by your smartphone along a route in the Oer-IJ, experiencing the museum along the way. Experience-filled information is provided in the form of videos, audio, photos and texts interspersed with physically present elements in the landscape.

As a visitor, you choose your preferred museum route in advance and receive imaginative stories and information linked to the theme.

2. In search of the Oer-IJ
To support the cycle routes, a book has been written. The aim of the book is to tempt people to experience the museum, provide additional information or afterwards as a reference book. The book contains valuable stories told in an appealing way. The virtual “Outdoor Museum” brings the book to life and gives an extra experience along the way.

The book includes a voucher code that allows consumers to download the museum tours directly onto their smartphones.

The Oer-IJ consists of:
A book with the story of the Oer-IJ
Login code for two digital routes in the RoutAbel app

Customer
Foundation Oer-IJ

Assignment
Research shows that neither the Lochem municipality nor the town of Lochem has enough observable historical objects to justify a visit to Lochem by Dutch or foreigners. However, there are the necessary fascinating stories to encourage that visit. These stories need to be told in an engaging way.

There are several goals:

• The Historical Circle wants to tell about the history of Lochem
• Eigenzinnig Lochem, an organisation that works to boost tourism, culture and entrepreneurship, wants to develop and implement activities that will enable entrepreneurs in the municipality to achieve greater sales from more visitors and increased spending
• VVV Lochem wants to attract more tourists to the municipality with greater brand awareness and by promoting high-profile products from Lochem.
• The municipality of Lochem wants to offer more space for civic initiatives, and also cooperate in implementing those initiatives on e.g. municipal land

Created
We have made an inventory of locations in the municipality of Lochem that have a historical story to tell. We wrote the historical stories concisely and in accessible language. We also looked for matching images, such as photos from the past, an old map or print. This together makes it a harmonious whole.

This project will soon be supplemented by a digital walking route along these information panels located in Lochem. This route takes you back into the fascinating history and gives you even more information about Lochem and its beautiful surroundings. In text, image and sound.

Outdoor museum Lochem consists of:

• 32 historical panels in the municipality of Lochem (writing texts, finding suitable images)
• Design, production and installation of the information panels
• Follow-up: develop a digital walking route in the RoutAbel app along the historical panels

Customer
Municipality of Lochem in cooperation with Historical Society Lochem-Laren-Barchem and Eigenzinnig Lochem

Assignment
To stimulate a broad public to discover the Land of Maas and Waal by bicycle. In which the public preferably also use catering facilities, visit attractions and shops.

Created 
With the cycle routes through the area, we provide the public with information, eye-openers and anecdotes.
This is done in a light-hearted way that makes them look at the river landscape in a new way. What seems ordinary becomes extraordinary, what seems true gets unmasked, what is hidden becomes visible.

On each cycling tour, about 10 ‘dike secrets’ are revealed. What are those mysterious houses along the dike doing, where no life seems to be? Why do dike roads meander so often? Cyclists dive extra deep into the dike secrets via videos on the app. While cycling past pumping stations, farms, brickworks and castles, Dijkgeheimen offers a world of water stories.

The information is also in-depth – including via videos in the RoutAbel app – and via the link to Facebook for behind-the-scenes views and more information.

Dike secrets consists of:

• 2 digital cycling routes, downloadable in the RoutAbel app
• 2 cycling routes in a printed route bundle
• A Facebook account to provide more information and insights, a Twitter account to activate the tourist
• Weather presenter Margot Ribberink, known from RTL4 and Omroep Max, is the face of the routes
  

Customer
Regional Office for Toerism Arnhem Nijmegen

Assignment
Stimulate the target group to go cycling in Overijssel and make them aware of and enjoy pure regional products.

Created
We developed the FeelFood concept: a route-lifestyle concept that connects people, nature and pure food. So that you know what you are eating, where the food comes from and what happens to it before it reaches your plate.

FeelFood consists of:

• 15 separately available digital cycling routes (ranging from 25 – 40km) on the theme of ‘eating naturally’. Including stories from suppliers of regional products, photos, fitness tips, portraits and videos. The digital routes leave at 15 different starting points throughout Overijssel.
• 15 FeelFood recipes which are linked to the 15 digital cycling routes.
• An inspiring book full of information about the region, the routes, nature, recipes and inspiration. With all the recipes, tips and things worth knowing to enjoy for a long time. The book includes a voucher code with which the 15 digital routes can be downloaded for free.
  
• Collaboration with a local outdoor chef who is available for promotional activities and events.
  
• A FeelFood cargo bike, equipped with a BlackBasterd barbecue, which can be used at events and fairs.
• FeelFood Market: an annual event at Hotel Landgoed De Uitkijk in Hellendoorn, where you can learn about local products.
  

Customers
Natura Docet Wonderrijck Twente in collaboration with Provincie Overijssel and Fietscity