Cycling through the woods along the Maas

In the area surrounding Roermond you will find a sea of greenery, drifting dunes, romantic fens, vast heathlands, forests and small-scale fields. Explore this varied environment by bike and be surprised by the tranquility that prevails here.

Stream valleys and forests
The starting point of this route is in Neer. From here you cycle along the Maas in the direction of Horn. You then cycle through the Leudal, a nature reserve of approximately 900 hectares. The green stream valleys here are especially beautiful to see. The streams flow quickly here due to the height differences in the landscape and the stream valleys are deeply carved. A little further along the route you cycle through the Helden forests. The Scots pines from these forests were previously used for mining. The pines were planted especially for this purpose on the drifting dunes that can be found here. Here and there you see nesting boxes for owls, but there are also many other animals living in these forests.

A country defense against robbers
Northwest of Neer is a deciduous forest with a small part of the landweer Houtgraven from the Late Middle Ages. This is a raised earthen wall that was planted with thorn bushes to make it more difficult for robber gangs to pass through the area. The Houtgraven landweer consists of a double wall with a ditch on either side. In the past, Houtgraven was clearly visible in the landscape and therefore it was necessary to protect it.