Small heather by Bree

The Belgian Bree, located in the province of Limburg, obtained its city rights in the thirteenth century, but the area was already populated in the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Roman and Merovingian times. In 1366 it belonged to one of the most important cities of the prince-bishopric of Liège, after Bree was completely walled and surrounded by a kind of moat seven meters wide, called a city count. Bree had four city gates called the Gerdingerpoort, the Nieuwstadpoort, the Kloosterpoort and the Itterpoort. There were two towers on the city wall: the Gray Tower and the White Tower, which housed a powder mill. The defense towers have been partially restored and still refer to the medieval past of the city. You also cycle a bit through the northern part of the Gruitroderbos, a 660 hectare north that is part of the Duinengordel nature reserve. This elongated complex of inland dunes stretches from Hechtel to Neeroeteren and originated in the last phase of the Ice Age, which gripped the area around 10,000 BC. During the first half of the twentieth century, extensive pine forests were created to retain the dunes, but in some places the original heath and shifting sand areas have been preserved. In the forest there is also a dead straight lane of several kilometers long: the Geuzenbaan. The name refers to the troops of William of Orange who passed here in 1568.