Walking on the German line and through the forests around Heijen

You can enjoy a lovely walk just outside Gennep. This route takes you through the Genneperheide, the Heijense Bossen and over the German Line, a former railway route.

Genneperheide
Before you set off, you can have a drink and something to eat at the Old Inn, a cozy café with a Burgundian twist. From here you can walk straight into the Genneperheide, a gently sloping nature reserve that is located on an old river dune of the Maas. The winding path takes you through a coniferous forest that was planted for mining around 1930. It is wonderfully quiet here to walk among the fragrant Scots pines.

Seven Morning Sep
Further on you walk into the Heijense Bossen, where you will find more variety between deciduous and coniferous trees. At the edge of the forest you can look out over the fields for a moment, before walking back onto the Genneperheide. There was once a NATO camp here, now you can enjoy the silence at the De Zeven Morgensiep fen. The last part of the route you walk on the Indische Lijntje, the former railway line between Boxtel and Wesel in Germany.

German Line
The German Line was opened in 1873 by the North Brabant German Railway Company (NBDS). The aim of this railway line was to create a direct, therefore shorter, connection between the seaports of Antwerp and Rotterdam and the German hinterland. Until 1910, this railway played a role in the transport of goods and people between London, Berlin and even further east into Russia. Until 1914, members of the royal families of England, Wales, Prussia and the Russian Tsar family used this railway connection to travel to each other. The NBDS went bankrupt during the First World War, after which the NS continued to operate the line. Passenger transport was stopped in 1950, freight transport in 2004.