Cycling around the Dune Belt

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. Extensive pine forests alternate with purple-flowering heather, large ponds bear witness to gravel and sand extraction, high peaks offer grand views... it is not surprising that many rare and special animals live in this beautiful natural setting. It is a unique nature reserve where more than 5,700 hectares of forest and heathland are managed and protected. It extends over the municipalities of Dilsen-Stokkem, Maasmechelen, Zutendaal, Lanaken, Genk and As.

The heath is the habitat of typical heath birds such as curlew, woodlark and nightjar. Bush heath, heath and red heath turn hundreds of hectares of the Hoge Kempen purple in August and September. The south-facing slopes and the great variety in biotopes also make the Hoge Kempen an important habitat for heat-loving insects such as the blue-winged locust and queen's page. A large population of deer hides in the extensive forests that surround the open heathland. This is also the habitat of remarkable birds of prey such as the hawk. 

You drive through the garden suburbs and continue on 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. One of the large shopping centers dates from 1968, making it the oldest shopping center in Belgium. So it's worth stopping by after your route if you still feel like shopping!