Straelen, Venlo, Hasselerheide

Explore a beautiful piece of history on the Groote Heide west of Venlo. This area covers almost 250 hectares, which played an important role during the Second World War due to its airbase. After the war, almost all parts of the Venlo-Herongen airbase were demolished, but the control tower has remained in all solitude on the heath. The tower has been designated a monument. If you pay attention, you will also recognize the remains of a defense structure (landwehr) that used to dominate the landscape. Venlo itself is a bustling trade, transport and industrial city. Venlo managed to grow into the center for the wider area, including an important shopping center for the nearby Ruhr area. That's great, because Venlo is one of the hardest hit places of the Second World War in the Netherlands. Although the people of Venlo can be proud of a characteristic, historic and atmospheric center, a lot of damage was done between 1940 and 1945, which means that there is also a relatively large amount of new construction. The city has numerous places of interest such as the Schreurs house, the Romerhuis, De Grote Kerk, the Maria meadow and the monumental tower of the former Venlo-Herongen airbase. How different is the atmosphere in the small village of Straelen. The village is centuries old; in the ninth century Straelen even had a stone hall church. Yet the town was only mentioned for the first time in a document from 1065. Straelen then had 250 inhabitants, but the town was nevertheless referred to as a city. The large church of Straelen burned down completely in 1387, except for the tower. The religious building was later rebuilt in late Gothic style as the Hallenkerk. Straelen was officially granted city rights in 1428. Since then the place has been expanded and today about 16,000 people live there. The route starts and ends at Profile Zweirad-Center vd Stay Der Fahrradspezialist. There is plenty of parking space at this bicycle specialist. Before you start the tour, we advise you to have your bike checked and any defects repaired. With this Profile you get a 10 euro discount on maintenance and repairs on presentation of your bicycle discount pass.