Experience the beauty of the Hoge Kempen

This route takes you through Hoge Kempen National Park. The Hoge Kempen was established in 2006, making it Belgium's first national park. The area is approximately 5750 hectares. Here you will mainly find coniferous forests and heathland, but also deciduous forests, inland dunes, streams and fens. The Hoge Kempen consists of a number of (protected) nature reserves: the Mechelse Heide, the Ziepbeek Valley, the Ven onder de Berg and the Neerharer Heide. The Hoge Kempen is located on the Kempen Plateau. With a height between 50 and 100 meters, this national park is the highest part of the Kempen. It is built from the rubble that the Meuse brought from the Ardennes during the last ice ages. The route starts just below Genk and leads you through the woods to Eisden. Here you cycle past the former Eisden Coal Mine, which was in operation from 1923 to 1987. Some old mine buildings have been restored and found a new purpose. Maasmechelen Village, an outlet center, was built in 2001 on the former mine site, renamed Leisure Valley. From Eisden you cycle along the towpath along the Zuid-Willemsvaart, the almost 123 kilometer long canal that connects Maastricht with 's-Hertogenbosch. Above Dilsen you turn south again and drive via the Drie Beukenbos back towards Genk, a former mining town in Belgian Limburg. Nowadays, the Genk economy is no longer about coal, but about shopping. The city has three large shopping centers, Shopping 1, 2 and 3. Shopping 1 dates from 1968 and is therefore the oldest shopping center in Belgium.