Along chapels in the Dommel valley

Departure point is the Kerkplein in Eksel (V). There is plenty of parking space on this large square in front of the SintTrudo church. Walk to the main entrance of the church and take the long, straight street to the right of the church building, the Berkenlaan. You walk them all the way to the end. You pass the Torenstraat and the cemetery of Eksel. After the last house of the street, turn left (behind the black wire). Follow the indication X on a round sign on small poles. To the right of the path is forest, on the left arable land. You walk straight through a field and you reach some wooden stairs. These will take you to the height of the bridge over the N74 (1). Walk over the bridge and turn right into Schansdijkstraat. At the T-junction turn left, still the Schansdijkstraat. You immediately walk past a long-gabled farm on the left, the Kroonhoeve. • A little further you cross an old railway that has been transformed into a cycle path. You continue to follow this road and at the next intersection you walk straight ahead. This is the Hoksentstraat and you pass a first chapel here. During this walk you will encounter many larger and smaller chapels. Walk past the Kruisstraat and continue walking in the Hoksentstraat. • You continue your way between quiet meadows and past the beautifully restored former Hoeve Vanwinkel. Keep right at the next triangular chapel (2), this is a dead end road (Hoksentstraat 38–40). About 100 meters past the fork, take the path to the right. On the left it is bordered with oak and birch. Soon this path narrows and on the most humid parts it has been made easier for the hiker with wooden reinforcements. Some water features indicate that the Dommel cannot be too far away. You go over the river via a bridge, after which you immediately turn left and continue walking via a boardwalk. • The Dommel valley, together with the Bolliserbeek valley, forms a nature reserve of more than 100 hectares. The different types of landscape that can be found in this area provide a wide variety of flora and fauna. Where the boardwalk ends, you come back to open pasture. Keep walking straight ahead and ignore all the side roads in the forest. At the end of the grass path, turn left onto the wide dirt road. A little further, on the asphalt road, turn right. • After a short walk you will pass a place with information about the prehistoric burial mounds that can be found in Molhem. You keep walking straight ahead and you pass the Leanderhof (3). About 400 meters past yet another Maria chapel, completely surrounded by holly, turn right. This is just past the house number 32A (on the left) and a grey electricity cabin (on the right). From now on you follow the indications with the green rectangle. Via a narrow grass path you reach the Dommel again, which you cross via a bridge. • Immediately turn left and follow the Dommel upstream for a short time. Along a meadow and through two gates you reach an asphalt track. Turn right here, under the high voltage. You continue to follow this road until just before the sign of cycle junction 248. Here diagonally left, into the Kenensdijk. After about 150 meters turn right (just before a meadow with barbed wire.) You still follow the designations with green rectangles. Via a bridge over the Bolliserbeek (4). Between two large water features go straight ahead and turn left at the end. You now walk zigzagging through this nature reserve (still follow the green rectangles) to the wide dirt road. Turn right here. At the asphalt track turn left and immediately right onto the straight cycle path. At the first intersection turn left (at cycle junction 248), direction Eksel center. You reach the bridge over the N74 again and from here you walk back to the starting point of the walk via the Berkenlaan.