Explore Postel and the beautiful surroundings

During this wonderful two-country route you cycle alternately through Belgium and the Netherlands. The tiny Belgian town of Postel is the starting point. You depart from Gasthof de Beiaard, a cozy tavern and restaurant that also serves regional dishes. This inn is located within the walls of the abbey and can be reached via a wooden bridge over the moat. Postel Abbey is a household name in the wider area for anyone looking for peace and contemplation. Be sure to take a look at the abbey's cheese shop: here you will find a variety of Postel abbey cheeses and farm butter. They are produced within the walls of the Abbey in the own cheese factory from milk from the abbey farm. The abbey's baker supplies the delicious abbey bread: coarse, white and raisins. The famous Postelse abbey beer is also offered.

Postel is located in the middle of the forest, which you immediately experience as soon as you cycle out of the town. A forest consisting mainly of Scots pine that thrives on the sandy soil. This forest alternates with agricultural enclaves where you will find a remarkably large concentration of turf growers.

The towns of Weebosch and Bergeijk are again on Dutch territory. The Aa flows here with various branches. In this region there has been some land exchange with Belgium over the last hundreds of years. The border village of Luyksgestel was exchanged with Belgium for Lommel. At the same time, another remarkable exchange was made: part of the Bergeijkse Heide became part of Belgium. In return, a rectangular part of the Bladelse Heide was added to the municipality of Bergeijk, which would therefore have an irregular outline. In Bladel this was called the'hard shoulder\\\', because Bladel was now no longer a border municipality and therefore missed out on a lot of European subsidies. You can drive back into Belgium via beautiful rural winding roads and come across the Bocholt-Herentals canal. This connects the South Willemsvaart (in Bocholt) with the Albert Canal (in Herentals), over a distance of more than 60 kilometers. South of the canal are several recreational lakes such as Rauwmeer, Zilvermeer and Kanaalmeer, which were created by silver sand extraction.

There are various campsites, water sports centers and other recreational facilities on and around these lakes. Lovely to cycle along and, if the weather is nice, to take a dip. After you have left this watery area, you return via nice forest roads to the starting location where it may be time for a nice abbey beer. If you want to see more of this area, choose cycle route number 255267'Enjoy beautiful Belgium\\\'.