Wooded route across the border with Germany

This green route takes you across the German border. You can endlessly enjoy nature reserves with rich flora and fauna by bike. Along the way you will visit a historic water mill. You cycle through the Dalheimer Busch and Effelder Wald forests. This area is part of the Maas-Swalm-Nette Border Park, a cross-border nature reserve in the Netherlands and Germany. On both sides of the border there are more than 10,000 hectares of nature reserves and bird protection areas with an enormous variety. The landscape in the Maas Valley is extremely moist and nutrient-rich and on the higher terraces the soil is dry, sandy and nutrient-poor. You cycle across the border into the Netherlands and drive through the Meinweg National Park. This is a very rare terraced landscape in the Netherlands. It was created over the course of 10,000 years because the water of the Maas and the Rhine scoured the landscape and because of three fractures in the earth's crust, including the Peelrand Fault. Rare bird species such as the little grebe, the stonechat, the black woodpecker, the woodlark and the nightjar breed in the versatile landscape. The viper feels very much at home here on the ground. The number of species of dragonflies, butterflies and moths that have been observed is unique to the Netherlands. The Vlodroppermolen is located on the Rode Beek. The mill was built in 1834 as an oil mill and corn mill. After a fire in 1879, the mill was rebuilt as a flour mill, with a turbine. The mill last ground grain in 1974. The turbine is the only one of its kind in the Netherlands. Together with the mill and movement, it is of great historical value.