Berkelland

Borculo is a city that was built around a castle known to have existed during the 12th century. It was built on a well-defendable place along the Groenlose Slinge and Berkel rivers.

Borculo gained its city rights in 1590. The region was bought by Prince William V of Orange-Nassau in 1777, which gives the current king of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, the title of Lord of Borculo.

Most notable in Borculo's history are the storm of 1925, also known as the Cyclone of Borculo, which led to a massive increase in tourism, disaster tourism especially. The storm of 1925 destroyed the entire town of Borculo. Eyewitnesses spoke of several tornadoes. Newspapers reported of hundreds of deaths and of men and women being picked off of the ground and thrown around for hundreds of meters. The storm was unlike anything ever seen in the Netherlands. What happened is debatable, but the most common assumption is that a tornado of one to two kilometers in diameter hit the Achterhoek that night. Two years later the city of Borculo, having mostly recovered from 1925, was nearly hit by another tornado of scale F4. This time, however, Eibergen took most of the damage.

• 🌍 VVV Borculo (Borculo Tourist Information), Hofstraat 5, NL-7271 AP Borculo, ☏ +31 545 271 966. (updated Dec 2016)

Eibergen got its city rights rather late, in the fifteenth century. Eibergen, however, never became a proper city, as local law was practised and written in Borculo. Eibergen got heavily damaged by the 1927 tornado, which hit on June first. Though it was a weaker storm than the one that hit Borculo two years earlier, the town did get damaged severely, and many lost their lives.

The biggest monument in Eibergen is the Mallumse Molen, which dates back to 1748. The building consists of a water mill and the mulder house (miller house) that belongs to it. The mill, lock, mulder house and the waterworks around it all once belonged to a large manor. These four remaining monuments are open every Saturday, when volunteers operate the mill.

• 🌍 VVV Eibergen (Eibergen Tourist Information), Grotestraat 59, NL-7151 BB Eibergen, ☏ +31 545 471 911. (updated Dec 2016)

Neede has always been a small settlement. It was created as a trade post on the road between Deventer and Vreden. The church was constructed in 1506. The church itself doesn't stand anymore, yet its tower still does and is now part of the Hervormde or Grote Kerk.

Southern Neede was connected to several rail lines in 1884. The town had a large station which was mostly necessary for the many lines that connected to the station. Amongst these was the line between Doetinchem and Hengelo, a line to Winterswijk and one to Hellendoorn. These lines got removed one by one, and by 2001 the station too got demolished.

Similar to Eibergen, Neede was severely damaged by the 1927 storm. All of the village's industry was damaged. The industry mostly existed of stone factories and textile factories. The train depots was destroyed completely, train cars were thrown around and entire houses broke down.

Though Neede is in the Achterhoek, its customs and language are closer related to those of Twente.

• 🌍 VVV Neede (Neede Tourist Information), Oudestraat 52C, NL-7161 Neede. (updated Dec 2016)

Ruurlo has never been more than a small village that wasn't of much importance to Gelderland. The rail line between Zutphen and Winterswijk which opened in 1878, however, opened new opportunities to the small village. The town grew a bit, but grew more in tourism, as the main attraction, Kasteel Ruurlo (Ruurlo Castle), was accessible to people from all over the country.

• 🌍 VVV Ruurlo (Ruurlo Tourist Information), Kerkplein 18, NL-7261 Ruurlo, ☏ +31 573 453 926. (updated Dec 2016)

Berkelland is rather difficult to reach if you do not intend to travel to Ruurlo, as the only station in the whole of the municipality is 🌍 Station Ruurlo. Here you'll have to switch to a bus if you would like to get to Borculo, Eibergen or Neede. Bus 23 services between Doetinchem and Borculo. When you'd like to get to Eibergen and Neede, use bus 74 from Enschede or Lievelde to get to Eibergen. In Eibergen you can switch to bus 72 which will bring you to Neede.

When travelling from Arnhem, use the A12 towards Oberhausen. At the Oud Dijk interchange, turn onto the A18 heading for Doetinchem. Follow this highway until it ends near Varsseveld. Follow the Twenteroute (N18) heading towards Groenlo and Enschede. On this route, you'll first find the N312 near Lichtenvoorde, which you'll have to use to get to Ruurlo. In Ruurlo you can use the N315 to get to Borculo and Neede. If you wanted to get to Eibergen, then stay on the N18 at Lichtenvoorde. The N18 will take you to Eibergen directly. Directly after crossing the Berkel in Eibergen, take a left onto the N823 heading for Neede. This is a quicker route than the aforementioned N312-N315 combo.

When travelling from Enschede, head onto the Twenteroute (N18) heading for Haaksbergen. Just before you drive into Gelderland, the N18 will branch off into the N315, servicing Neede, Borculo and Ruurlo in that order, and the N18 which will take you to Eibergen, and pass by Groenlo and Lichtenvoorde before turning into the A18 heading for Doetinchem near Varsseveld.

As mentioned, public transport may be the best way to get around in Berkelland. Bus 23 services between Station Ruurlo (Ruurlo Train station) and Borculo. The line has two variants. One goes directly to Borculo using the N315, the other makes a small detour via Leostichting. What variant of line 23 you're dealing with is mentioned on the bus. From Borculo, you can switch to line 62 to get to Neede, where you then can switch onto line 72 heading for Eibergen. From Eibergen you can loop back to Ruurlo by using line 72 to get to the Groenlo-Lichtenvoorde train station, though note that the bus stop is called Lievelde Station, where you can get a train heading for Zutphen. The first stop is the one you should get off on: Station Ruurlo.

The infrastructure of Berkelland is mostly based on a loop between Ruurlo, Eibergen and Oost Gelre, existing of the N18, N312/N319 and N315. Using sat nav or a map to get to smaller picturesque villages such as Beltrum, is a rather great idea.