Gaasterland

Gaasterland is the south-western corner of Friesland and it is the one part of the province that is not flat: a ridge of boulder clay pushed up by ice in the Saale glaciation rises to just under thirteen metres, which sounds trivial and is not, in a landscape where everything else is polder at or below sea level. Where the ridge meets the IJsselmeer it forms low cliffs - the Roode Klif and the Mirnser Klif - eroded red-brown clay faces standing a few metres above the water, with the Oudemirdumer Klif as a third. Behind them lie woods, much of them planted around 1900 to hold the drifting sand, along with beech avenues, heath fragments and small lakes. Erratic boulders dropped by the ice are found in the clay. The area is walked and cycled and is much quieter than the Frisian lakes.

The landscape

• An ice-pushed ridge - boulder clay to just under thirteen metres, unique in Friesland.
• Low clay cliffs - the Roode Klif and Mirnser Klif above the IJsselmeer.
• Woodland - much of it planted around 1900 to hold drifting sand.
• Glacial erratics - boulders dropped by the ice, found in the clay.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Before you go

The hills are modest by any standard outside the Netherlands - the interest is relative. Cliff edges erode and are fenced in places. Facilities are limited to a few villages.

Nearby

Stavoren and the IJsselmeer shore are west; the Frisian lakes are north-east.