Variant Midden-Limburgse Strade Bianche

Note! Unpaved roads!

In Central Limburg there are many unpaved roads of gravel / tamped earth (in contrast to south-east Brabant where the unpaved roads, much more often than in Central Limburg, are real dirt roads), making these roads extremely suitable for a Strade Bianche (a road bike ride on partly unpaved roads, but of course also suitable for MTB, gravel bike or cross bike).

The route starts in Asten-Heusden and goes towards nature reserve De Groote Peel. Via the unpaved (gravel) cycle path over the Mussenbaan and via largely unpaved roads and cycle paths along the southern edge of De Groote Peel, you cycle towards Meijel. After Meijel you cycle towards the Deurne Canal: along this canal you have unpaved sections and the strips of forest along the canal form a nature corridor in the landscape. You cross the canal and cycle on unpaved roads along the Helenavaart to Helenaveen. Then you go via an alternation of unpaved and paved roads towards the village of Grashoek and nature reserve Kwakvors. Then you cross the Deurne Canal again and follow the canal on largely unpaved roads, after which you get a long stretch of unpaved road along the Noordervaart.

And so many unpaved sections follow, including along the Afwateringskanaal, in the Gruise Epper, through nature reserve Bovensbos and Keuperheide, along the Maas near Buggenum (beautiful is also the high bank of the Maas near the village of Neer!), and through the Leudal nature reserve, along the Brookberg nature reserve, through the Waterbloem nature reserve and the Asbroekerheide nature reserve, through the Grote Moost nature reserve and along the Noordervaart and Zuid-Willemsvaart canals. The last 6 kilometers go on paved roads back to the starting place Asten-Heusden.

The proportion of unpaved roads is 43% of the total distance. Almost all unpaved roads are easy to cycle with road bike equipped with at least 25 mm wide anti-puncture tires. After a rainy period, or after intensive use of roads by agricultural vehicles, some roads on the route may be less suitable for the road bike. This applies in particular to part of the unpaved road along the Noordervaart, and the cycle path through the Mussenberg (that is the last part of the cycle path along the Afwateringskanaal before it flows into the Meuse).