The Maas and Niers stork route 32 km.

The route starts at the Martinustoren visitor centre . The freely accessible tower informs you about the nature and cultural history of the land of Maas and Niers. The top floor offers a beautiful view of the landscape and the town of Gennep. From here you also look directly at the stork's nest on the historic town hall . A stork couple built the nest on one of the chimneys in 2000. This nest has been permanently inhabited since then, with only one year's interruption. Since 2010, the storks have been wintering almost every year. They are clearly not bothered by the noisy cosiness on the Markt. On the contrary, they are always present on the nest during the musical performances of the annual summer event Summmertime. The freely accessible museum the Petershuis and the historic Protestant church are also located on the Markt. From here you go via the Niersstraat to the start of the junction route, cycle junction 39, at the Niersbrug. Here you look out over the Niersdal , the main foraging area of the Gennep storks.

At cycle junction 39 the junction route starts and you go via cycle junctions 25 and 51 to Heijen. You pass the Gennep shopping streets Zandstraat and Spoorstraat and the pleasant Jan Lindersplein. At cycle junction 29 you come to the church village of Heijen. Via cycle junctions 46 and 34 you go to the Afferdse ferry. You now pass another important foraging area of the storks, the floodplains of the Maas . The ferry takes you to the Maasheggen area.

Via the cycle junctions 38, 4, 17, 1 and 15 you will reach the stork's nest in the Vilt. The lock complex Sambeek-Afferden is located on this route. This is definitely worth a visit. The route then takes you past the originally 14th century Boxmeer castle. It used to be surrounded on all sides by the Maas. Cycling through the beautiful Maasheggen landscape , with the meadows fenced off by hawthorn and blackthorn, you will reach the church village of Beugen. After Beugen you will reach the nature reserve de Vilt . It is a Maas meander that was cut off thousands of years ago.

The route goes past the nest of the Beugense storks, which have been present here since 2007. After the large and small Vilt you follow the cycle junctions 14, 6 and 13 and the tour goes through Oeffelt, towards cycle junction 12. You are now in a part of the Maasheggen area, called the Oeffelter Meent. This is of special landscape value and therefore a Natura 2000 area .