Explore the Netherlands and Belgium by bike

People may set boundaries, but nature doesn't care. For example, the Kempen are spread over Belgian Limburg and North Brabant. This route allows you to enjoy the beautiful Kempen nature with its stream valleys, quiet forests and vast heaths.

Soon after boarding you cycle into the Dommel valley. The Dommel rises in the Belgian Kempen and flows over a distance of 120 kilometers to Den Bosch, where it merges with the river Aa and continues under the name of the Dieze. You drive for miles through a picturesque landscape of flow meadows, fields with hedgerows, alder marshes and poplar plantations. Because you drive almost continuously through nature, you would almost forget that you cross the border after a few kilometers.

Just past Borkel you can see the heathland of the Malpie nature reserve. You will pass a number of fens: some were once created as a fish pond, others arose naturally as stream valley fens of the Dommel. Time seems to have stood still in this beautiful area.

After a short crossing you drive over De Groote Heide and through the Leenderbos. This typical Kempen landscape with its small height differences was created during the last ice age by deposits of sand. Heathland, forests, fens: this vast nature reserve never gets boring. Just past Heeze you cycle through another gem of the Kempen nature: the Strabrechtse Heide. In this vast plain of bush and heathland are some beautiful and quiet fens. You have beautiful views, especially when the heather is in bloom. You may come across the shepherd with his herd of Kempense Heideschapen while cycling.

In the hamlet of Leenderstrijp you can see many centuries-old long-gabled farms. Don't pedal too quickly and enjoy the look back at the Kempen time that you get here. After cycling for miles through the Leenderbossen again, you will pass another location with great cultural-historical value: the Achelse Kluis, a Trappist abbey on the border of Belgium and the Netherlands. In 1656 a border chapel was built nearby: Catholics from the Protestant Netherlands were allowed to hold their worship services here, just across the border. The abbey still exists, although the number of monks is not as large as in the heyday around the beginning of the twentieth century.