Fen route Oisterwijk

There's nothing more delightful than a brisk walk through the woods near Oisterwijk. It's hard to imagine, but the Oisterwijk Forests and Fens were once a vast heathland. The Scots pines you walk among were planted at the beginning of the nineteenth century for mining and shipbuilding. You'll pass, among other places, the Kolkven, the largest fen in the Oisterwijk woods. This fen wasn't carved out by polar winds, but by the swirling waters of an ancient meltwater river. That's why the Kolkven is deeper than the other fens. Nowadays, people stroll leisurely along the Brandven, but in the past, it was sometimes stressful: the water from this fen was used to extinguish fires.