Geopad 180b-Houten-De Schonauwen-Loerikroute

By following the Schonauwen - Loerik route, one gets a representative impression of the younger southeastern part of Houten. The most striking historically interesting places are the castle grounds of Schonauwen and the remains of the hamlet of Loerik. However, due to the construction of the residential area, a rectangular station environment resembling a Roman castellum and a pentagonal earthwork were planned, indicating the presence of an ancient defense line.

1. The walk begins at Houten-Castellum station. This elevated station is located in the middle of a walled rectangular quarter that in some ways resembles a Roman fortress settlement. This is also contributed by the fine-grained (square) rectangular pattern of narrow streets, the flanking long residential blocks with Roman architectural elements, and the presence of a relatively large centrally located square. Even the street names create the impression that one has landed in a castellum.
From the station, the route first follows the main access road Castellumpad. This takes place on the west-southwest side of the station. Soon one reaches the small square Piazza, which runs straight ahead and eventually transitions into the Schoneveldsepad.

2. This leads to the strip village along the medieval Houtense Wetering. In the meantime, one passes the community center / cultural house Schoneveld. The path along the Houtense Wetering was renamed Parkhout at the point where the route reaches it. This refers to the suffix "hout" in the street names of an adjacent residential area.
By turning right, one can explore some of the listed caves and houses that have survived along the Houtense Wetering. Some ancient bridges and shady caves are also interesting.
Passing a large listed cave on the left side of the road, the route is crossed by the so-called Vijfwal. This is a green space whose replicated pentagonal defense line forms the backbone. The "line" presents itself as an earth wall planted with several tree species, whose corners are marked and highlighted by rampart-like elevations.

3. The route follows left of the Vijfwal over the Schonauwensepad. After a while, one gets to see the double-fortified grounds of Castle Schonauwen. Once this occurs, another left turn is made. One then passes a relatively shaded part of the grounds, where some residential houses also stand.
A little further on, one reaches the path along the Houtense Wetering, which is called Granietsteen here. This name change also refers to a suffix. In this case, to the name element "steen", which characterizes the adjacent residential areas.
The route follows right the section Granietsteen. One then first passes a part of the castle grounds, where at the edge of a shady place a remnant of the Castle Schonauwen can be seen.

4. The path section Granietsteen also leads to a part of the Vijfwal, which runs internally along the ring there. Again, one follows the Vijfwal to the left. This time, however, the railway line is crossed first. A tunnel makes this possible. The route remains true to the Vijfwal for quite a while afterwards. It then passes a preserved listed cave after a while.

5. Shortly afterwards, one reaches an area where sandy river deposits were removed to fill some nearby construction sites. However, a winding old road to the hamlet 't Goy remained untouched by the excavation. Furthermore, the course of some former riverbeds was highlighted during the excavations.
The route along the Vijfwal meets the old road to 't Goy at a T-junction. One also follows this to the left. On the right, a watercourse accentuated by the excavations is flanked by a colorful row of Scandinavian-looking wooden houses.
A little further on, the old road Houten - 't Goy bends ninety degrees to the left. The name of the connection was changed here to Beusichemsetuin. As the reader might suspect, one can
infer that the street names in the area end with the suffix "tuin".

6. The route now turns right, shortly thereafter following the winding path Binnentuin through the hamlet Loerik. Opposite a well-preserved ancient cave, one then turns left into a savanna-like park. The substrate there was spared from excavations due to its archaeological values. However, the naturally somewhat hilly relief was accentuated by elevations.
Some archaeologically interesting sites are marked there by round posts, while a number of the reddish-brown "boulders" placed on the grounds are meant to suggest that cattle once grazed there.

7. After exploring the somewhat hilly park, one again follows a part of the path Beusichemsetuin to the right for the second time. Behind the property of an old farm, one again enters a small green area. There, one can walk along a path to and along a natural waterway. One then arrives at the old Loeriksepad. It again tempts one on the right to follow a section of Beusichemsetuin. This is particularly interesting, as some ancient caves have survived and along the north side of the path a part of the Vijfwal is once again visible.

8. Finally, the "castellum" is revisited. There, one can return to the station via the narrow Porta, the square Forum, and a section of the Castellumpad.