Along streams and canals

When you think of North Brabant, you don't often think of streams and canals. Yet here you can also drive for miles along the green banks of waterways.

Royal waterways
Between Haghorst and Best you drive for a long time along the Wilhelmina Canal. It is wonderful to pedal along the rippling water and under the green canopy. On hot days you can enjoy extra cooling here. You also follow the course of the Beatrix Canal. This waterway of over eight kilometers connects the south of Eindhoven with the Wilhelmina Canal. At the end of the Second World War, both canals were dry for a while due to war.

De Beerze
Not only life, but also the landscape is good in the Brabant country. You drive through meadows and arable lands, but also through the forests and fields of the Oostelbeerse Heide. Past the deciduous forest of the Baest Estate you drive a bit along the Beerze stream, which gives a place like Middelbeers its name. In this village you can see the Himbergen, a striking remnant of a flour mill from 1884.

Batadorp
The route also takes you through the surprising Batadorp. Many Dutch people probably only know Batadorp as a junction on the way to the sunny south. However, the name also refers to the nearby district and factory that were built here in 1934 for the originally Czechoslovakian shoe factory Bata. This way the employees could live close to the factory. In addition to homes, Bata also had schools, a hair salon and a medical service built. Bata also built such villages in other places around the world, so that the company could avoid customs tariffs. The original buildings of Batadorp are now considered industrial heritage and a real historical attraction.