Noordervaartroute, In the footsteps of Napoleon (Nederweert - Venlo)

Going out with Napoleon

The French Emperor Napoleon wanted to dig a canal via the Meuse from the Rhine in Germany to the mouth of the Scheldt in Antwerp. The project was never fully completed, but the route still exists. For the first time in history, the route of the unfinished section of the Noordervaart is now clearly visible in the landscape. The Noordervaartroute can be followed by bicycle or on foot. Marking rods of 4 meters high indicate the unfinished part of the Noordervaart, as planned by Napoleon at the beginning of the 19th century. With this Noordervaart route you follow the traces of one of the great ideas of this French emperor. This so-called 'line' route runs from the start of the completed Noordervaart in Nederweert, via Meijel, Beringe (municipality of Helden), Maasbree and Venlo to the German border and ultimately ends at the German city of Neuss. The total length of the line route is 100 kilometers, of which 50 kilometers on Dutch territory and 50 kilometers on German territory. The route can be followed in Germany via a blue line with cross lines on the road and blue roadside planks where a blue line is not possible. In the Netherlands you can easily find your way through this area full of history along blue roadside planks, blue shields on light poles and the signs of the cycle route network. The blue line, roadside planks and shields symbolize the course of the canal like a blue ribbon. You cycle or walk through a very varied landscape and cross fourteen municipalities, each with their own story - mentioned on information boards regarding the construction of the Noordervaart. By using the map"Cycling in Limburgs Land van Peel en Maas and De Maasduinen\\\" you can take various tours along parts of the completed and unfinished Noordervaart. You determine your own starting and ending point and you will also find the well-known cycling junctions on the route so that you can put together your own cycling route: exactly tailor-made! In this flyer you will find a description of the Noordervaart Route and extensive information about this special landscape.
The Noordervaart cycle route takes you through the outskirts of various cities, but also through small villages and hamlets with their own character. Especially in these places, a link can easily be made to the rich past of the area. And not only are the buildings along the route very diverse, the nature is also characterized by great diversity. From the wet nature reserves near Helden you arrive at the recognizable watercourse in Maasbree and then into the rich flora of the Maasdal near Venlo. After crossing the border, you head to the highest point of the route, to the colorful village of Straelen, to continue your way via the beautiful lake area of the Krickenbecker Seen, the hills of the Hinsbecker Hohen to the beautiful landscape at the Lower Rhine near Neuss.

The route of the Noordervaart brings history to life. But in addition to this piece of history, the route offers numerous other sights, each participating municipality surprises you with its own characteristic features. For example, you will find Eynderhoof Limburg Open Air Museum in Nederweert and De Truijenhof educational center in Meijel. In Helden you can visit the northernmost vineyard in Limburg, Domaine d\\\'Elkandré, where guided tours with tastings take place regularly. In Grashoek you will find a bonsai studio and in Panningen a horse dairy farm. Maasbree is surrounded by beautiful nature, and lovers of historical objects can indulge themselves in the castle village of Baarlo. Just as the Noordervaart route takes you back to a time long gone, so do the various castles, each with their own history. The former Kasteel de Raay has recently been transformed into an attractive international art center including a gallery, hotel and restaurant. In Venlo, a visit to the Limburg Museum is an absolute must for anyone who wants to get acquainted with the culture of this region. The renovated city parks are a feast for the eyes and with a visit to the picturesque monastery village of Steyl near Venlo you will experience how the missionaries used to live. . You can also visit a botanical garden. In nearby Tegelen, with its extensive clay processing industry, you can admire ceramic products and pottery. And those looking for peace and quiet can go to the Venlo area, in the Jammerdal and along the Maas with its unique landscape. Naturally, the Noordervaart Route has various rest points where you can leisurely review your previously acquired impressions. You can also visit numerous events, such as fairs, flower and art markets, which are regularly organized at various places along the route. And if you want to explore this beautiful area intensively, you can also take multi-day cycling trips. There are plenty of overnight accommodations along the route in hotels, apartments, at large campsites with all amenities or at one of the mini-campsites in the area.
The Noordervaartroute is one of the largest projects of the Euroga 2002plus. The rediscovery of the Napoleonic construction project with its great cultural-historical value is an important reason to bring this construction project back into the spotlight. The development of this strategic monument as a symbol of cross-border cooperation with many participants continues. The preservation and maintenance of this important area with its cultural and sporting events along the route of the Noordervaart are the tasks for the coming years. With the construction of the Noordervaart, Napoleon left his mark on the fourteen municipalities. Now the municipalities themselves want to place lasting emphasis.

Europga 2002 plus

The cross-border cultural event Euroga 2002plus took place in 2002 and 2003. This was a large-scale event in which a large number of German and Dutch municipalities participated. In the Netherlands, the Euroga area consisted of the entire region of North and Central Limburg.
The aim of Euroga was to make the region between Rhine and Meuse more known and to show the cultural-historical similarities of both regions. In the period April 2002 to October 2003, various events and activities in the field of cultural and natural history were organized in North and Central Limburg.
The Noordervaartroute was also constructed as part of the Euroga. This is a thematic cycle route along the Noordervaart, the never-completed canal connection between the Scheldt and the Rhine, of which remnants can still be seen in many places in the landscape. The Noordervaartroute runs from Nederweert to the Rhine near Neuss in Germany. The Dutch part of the route runs over the existing cycle route network. This is described in detail in this brochure.

In the footsteps of Napoleon

The cross-border Noordervaart route has been set up to make the unfinished Noordervaart recognizable in the landscape and to introduce you to a large number of special features of this region. The fourteen municipalities (Nederweert, Meijel, Helden, Maasbree and Venlo in the Netherlands and Straelen, Nettetal, Grefrath, Viersen, Mönchengladbach, Willich, Korsenbroich, Kaarst and Neuss in Germany) through which this canal was planned show you for the first time in history following in Napoleon's footsteps. You follow the Noordervaart as Napoleon had in mind, but which never came to be. Not only will you become acquainted with an appealing cultural-historical remnant from the Napoleonic era, your tour will also take you through a landscape with a great wealth and diversity of culture and nature.
The Noordervaartroute is a so-called'line\\\' route, which means that it has a different start and end point. And although you will of course get the best idea of Napoleon's intentions when you cycle the route in its entirety, in principle any of the participating places in the Netherlands or Germany can be a starting point or final destination. The starting points in the Netherlands can be found elsewhere in this flyer. Along the way you can easily recognize the Noordervaart cycle route by the blue roadside planks, shields on light poles and signs of the cycle route network. In addition, outside built-up areas you will regularly find marker rods, art objects that indicate the actual route of the Noordervaart, and also symbolize the measuring rods that must have been used at the time of the construction of the canal. In addition, the cycle paths that follow the route in Germany have a blue line with cross lines on the road. Each place you visit has its own story regarding the route of the Noordervaart. These stories can be read on information boards along the route. On Dutch territory there are information boards at a piece of original bed in Boekend, the Everlose Beek in 't Rooth in Maasbree, nature reserve 't Heeske in Maasbree and nature reserve Vlakbroek in Koningslust.

Remains of the Noordervaart route

Now, about two centuries later, the Dutch part of the Grand Canal du Nord, the Noordervaart, is still navigable from Weert. The last section, between the Roggelse Brug roundabout in Meijel and the terminus in Beringe, was recently closed to shipping. The route of the unfinished Noordervaart then runs via the municipalities of Helden, Maasbree and Venlo to the German border and ends in Neuss. Work started in Maasbree (then called Bree) around 1809. From the border with Helden, the canal was dug in a straight line to the Heeske and from there one would follow the bed of the Everlose Beek. All excavation work was done manually and the excavated soil was dumped along the route. This elevation would serve as a towpath for the horses. Southern Netherlands during French rule When the revolution broke out in Paris in 1789 and the Ancien Regime came to an end, France and Europe could not yet have imagined what this would mean in the decades that would follow. would have consequences. After a domestic uprising that lasted several years, France also decided to wage war across its borders from 1792 onwards and occupied, among other things, Belgium and part of the southern Netherlands. was the lead actor
Napoleon Bonaparte who rose from general to consul and ultimately to emperor. After he was granted this last title on May 18, 1804, he left his mark throughout Europe with his plans and activities. This also applies to North and Central Limburg. One of his lesser-known plans was the construction of the Grand Canal du Nord. The route for this was determined by Napoleon in 1806: the Rhine would be connected from Grimlinghaus near Neuss to the Maas near Venlo. On the other side of the Maas, the canal had to run via Maasbree, Beringe, Meijel, Nederweert, Weert, Neerpelt and Lier to the Scheldt in Antwerp. With a width of twenty meters and a depth of three meters, the canal could easily accommodate ships with a length of 35 meters and a weight of up to 200 tons. In this way, Napoleon hoped to make himself both economically and politically independent of the (Northern) Netherlands, which at that time did not belong to his empire. The ships did not have to leave French territory and could also sail via a shorter route. The first construction activities began in the spring of 1807, but the canal would never be completed. After approximately 30 kilometers including locks had been completed, work was stopped. Partly due to a lack of money, but mainly because in 1811 the whole of the Netherlands became part of the French Empire and thus the main reason for the construction of the canal disappeared. that the ships would have to pull. At the time, approximately 3,000 foreign workers were working on the canal in the municipality of Bree, and the village of Bree had barely 1,000 inhabitants at the time. The intention was to accommodate the workers with the local population, but everyone can imagine that this encountered great difficulties. Fights regularly broke out between residents of the village and the canal workers. When work on the 'Grand Canal' was officially ended in June 1810, the excavated pieces remained, clearly recognizable in the landscape. The section from Helden to Heeske contained water, in the Venlo church village of Boekend, on the other hand, the bed has always remained dry.

Heroes

If you are looking for remains of this unfinished Noordervaart in the municipality of Helden, the most obvious place is of course the center of Beringe, the terminus of the once completed part of the Noordervaart at the Bonaparte roundabout with the monument dedicated to the French emperor. artwork. Part of the route connecting to the completed Noordervaart was used a few years ago for the construction of a provincial road (S271). South of the Koningslust center, visitors still recognize the route by the bushes and wet nature in the Vlakbroek nature reserve.

Maasbree

Remnants of the work on the Noordervaart are still present in the Rooth (Everlose Beek) in the municipality of Maasbree. There are also clear traces of the route along the provincial road between Helden and Maasbree, including in Heeske. On the south side of the provincial road N275 there is a stream where the Noordervaart was once planned. In one place this stream has the width of the Noordervaart and a particularly beautiful and diverse piece of nature develops along the entire route.

Venlo

In the municipality of Venlo, two remains of the Noordervaart are clearly recognizable in the landscape. In the church village of Boekend (near Blerick) you will see a stretch of shallow route of approximately 500 meters long and about 15 meters wide, surrounded by earthen walls overgrown with trees and shrubs. Further east, in the church village't Ven, another depression is visible with a length of 100 meters and a width of 20 meters. In Germany, large parts of the canal bed and the Louisenburg lock can still be clearly recognized, especially in the areas of Straelen and Nettetal.