Helenaheuvel – Kaapse Bossen Walk in Utrecht - Travel and Lifestyle Diaries

Dutchman and I love long walks, be it in the forest, mountains, fields or valleys. Unfortunately, we live in very flat Netherlands so thereâ€™s very little to imagine when it comes to the landscape.

The start of the Kaapse Bossen walking route from Helenaheuvel.

Our favourite weekend activity, that is if we have the time and the weather is cooperating, would be a walk in the forest and then sit on a cafÃ© terrace or restaurant afterwards for some tea. It is a bit of a tradition for us, especially during the autumn months.

Chalet Helenaheuvel Teahouse & Restaurant.

This autumn we didnâ€™t have a lot of chance to go out as we were busy with many personal matters to attend which I would like to share soon in my regular â€˜My Daily Life in the Netherlandsâ€™ series.

This hike in Helenaheuvel in the Kaapse Bossen took place last year. Dutchman and I have been here many times I have lost count. It is not too far from where we live so thatâ€™s one of the reasons why we frequent this area.

Helenaheuvel is located in the Utrechtseheuvelrug forest. Donâ€™t even try to pronounce that, lol. It is the famous forested area of Utrecht where you can find many stately mansions and castles, many of them have been transformed into office and commercial establishments.

This walk is a short one. I remember that it was late in the afternoon so we searched for a shorter route and that is how we ended up coming here in Helenaheuvel. After the little walk, we had some coffee and tea and shared a carrot cake with whipped cream at the Chalet Helenaheuvel Theehuis & Restaurant.

Here are the pictures we took during the walk.

Benches and walking paths into the forest.

We were obviously not alone…

This big tree fell down for some reason. Not sure if it was nature or man-related.

The walking paths in the forest are colour-coded. Some paths are 15 kilometres long while the one we took was only 6 kilometres.

Needle-like trees.

Your typical autumn floor of dried leaves in the forest. This is one of my favourite pictures in this set.

Some parts of the forest were still very green and this was in October.

The lookout tower. I have climbed this tower before, I think twice already, but this time I just stayed on the ground. The view up in the tower is a sea of green with splashes of brown, orange, yellow and red.