Kootwijkerzand

Walkies with my son along the woods and sand drifts of Kootwijkerzand. 
That's part of Holland's highland De Veluwe, a piece of nature we cherish. 

Wikipedia says the following about this area and Google tool translated it for me... what goes at a speed I can't match! :
"Large parts of the Veluwe consist of moraines, which were created about 150,000 years ago in the penultimate ice age, the Saalian. Prior to the ice cover, large rivers had deposited thick layers of sand and gravel with thinner layers of clay there. These deposits were formed by the Rhine and Meuse, but also by rivers from the east (including the so-called eridanos river system). When in the Saalian, the ice advanced to this part of the Netherlands, these river deposits were pushed up in high moraines, such as on the Veluwe.

In the south of the Veluwe, near Schaarsbergen, a large sand plain was created at the front of the ice due to sediment from the meltwater. Erratic boulders can also be found on these sandrs, which have been washed along with the meltwater from the ice sheet. South of Harderwijk and near Nunspeet, a glacial lake arose between the ice and the formed moraines, where sandy and clayey glaciolacustrine deposits were formed.[1]

In the last ice age (the Weichselien) the glaciers did not reach the Netherlands, but the ground was permanently frozen (permafrost). Due to the then prevailing strong winds, layers of cover sand were deposited, especially on the flanks of the Veluwe. Erosion took place on top of the Veluwe during this cold period. Due to the presence of permafrost in the spring, meltwater from the snow could not easily infiltrate into the subsoil. As a result, the water concentrated in streams and the subsoil started to erode, forming the snowmelt water valleys (or dry valleys).

When the climate became warmer, in the Holocene, the Veluwe became forested, but in the Middle Ages, man caused deforestation. Large-scale logging for the iron industry[2], which used a lot of charcoal, together with intensive agriculture, ensured that the wind got a hold on the poor sandy soils in the Middle Ages. This created large sand drifts and sand dunes were formed. As a result, the population moved away from the Veluwe. Due to the forest clearing, no primeval forest has been preserved, a large part of the current Veluwe forests has been planted in favor of wood production.[3] It was not until the end of the nineteenth century that the region became popular again and the population grew again, especially along the edges of the Veluwe and around Apeldoorn.

Because sand drifts elsewhere in Europe have become rare, they are considered very valuable in the Veluwe. With a size of 350 ha, the Kootwijkerzand is the largest drifting sand"