cycling tour Mariapeel

Two provinces cycle tour through the beautiful Peel area. Discover the nature and cultural history of De Peel by bike, a network route through Brabant and Limburg.

Really want to experience De Peel? Get on your bike and explore the historic Peel area via the Rondje Mariapeel. You can start your route in Helenaveen. Helenaveen, located between the nature reserves of Deurnese Peel and Mariapeel, was created in peat colonial times and is now a protected village view. The so-called trident system was used for the peat reclamations, in which small channels ('wijken' or 'vanes') led to a side channel dug parallel to the Helenavaart. This made it possible to transport peat by ship. You will find several terraces on the Helenavaart. You cycle along the old peat canal towards the other former peat colony, the picturesque Griendtsveen. Canals, drawbridges, apostle houses and the old inn on the water take you back in time.

On the way to the Zwarte Plak, you will pass the Peel Museum America, where you will discover how the hardest peel workers lived and worked at the time of mining. The hamlet of the Zwarte Plak was a base for the resistance group Deurne in World War II, after which it also became a shelter for Allied airmen and people in hiding. Via De Schatberg and Grashoek you reach the village of Meijel, after which the provincial border is crossed again on the way to Neerkant. 

Neerkant 
The village of Neerkant was a collection of hamlets located on the old connecting road between Deurne and Meijel. The name Neerkant would have meant 'nederkant' or 'end of the municipality of Deurne'. By painting the Neerkant more and more farmland and its own canal, the Neerkantse wiek. A beautiful landscape. The village is also known for the Museum Techniek met 'n Ziel, where you will find a collection of technology from the past to the present, such as old radios, televisions and telephones. There are also period rooms, which are decorated in the atmosphere of 'When happiness was very ordinary'. 

Fun fact: 2 channels next to each other
Did you know that there is another canal parallel to the Helenavaart? There was great rivalry between Van de Griendt of the Helenaveen Company and the municipal peat company of Deurne. Van de Griendt refused to share his own canal (the Helenavaart) and forced the municipality to dig a new canal itself, the Deurne Canal. De Peel owes both the so-called bayonet bend and the remarkable presence of two parallel channels to this rivalry.