Along the Maas near Boxmeer

This route takes you through Boxmeer and the surrounding meadows and nature reserves. Boxmeer, originally called Mere, is located on the left bank of the Maas in North Brabant. You enter the village from the south via the floodplains of this river. Traces have been found around Boxmeer that indicate that this area was already inhabited in Roman times. When you drive across Het Zand, you even cycle along the route where the Roman highway between Nijmegen and Maastricht once ran. You will then pass Boxmeer Castle on the right. In the fourteenth century there was a real fortress here that overlooked the Maas. After various sieges and destruction, the castle was transformed into a country house through various renovations from the eighteenth century onwards. A museum is now located in the former cellar. If you drive west out of the village, you cycle into the Brest Forest. This original heath and peat area was reclaimed in the course of the nineteenth century. Oak trees were planted for the production of coppice that was transported along long and straight avenues. Nowadays the forest consists mainly of pedunculate oaks, Scots pine and royal fern. The rest of the route you cycle through a vast agricultural landscape that was created after the reclamation of the Peel in the early 20th century. In addition to agricultural land, you will also see hedgerows, small reclamation forests, but also the cultivation of fruit and trees. You pass through ancient villages such as Sint Anthonis and Sambeek.