Along the windmills of the Maaskant

Appointment at the Lozerplein (V) in Lozen. With the church on your left and bicycle café Majestic on your right, cross the Hamonterweg and cycle into the Rondestraat. You turn with the street to the left and at the triangular square with canada poplars to the right, until you reach the Zuid-Willemsvaart. Follow the towpath to the left. Along Oeverijs you reach junction 08 at a seesaw bridge and sas 18. Keep following the momentum, direction 07. Cycle past a swinging bowl, into which the Herentals-Bocholt canal flows, and continue past majestic oaks and beech trees. Normally you continue to follow the towpath to reach junction 11 via 07. However, this is not possible until the end of August 2010, because the towpath is closed along the way to install a new bridge. A diversion has been provided and junctions 07 and 11 have been temporarily relocated. After the works, the tour is 41 km long. Diversion until the end of August 2010 Past the placeholder Beek you are forced to turn into the Waterstraat. Turn right at a farm and continue cycling along a narrow concrete road until you reach a T-junction. Follow Mariahof to the right. Cross the canal (the new bridge on the right) and follow Kerkstraat. After the descent of the bridge you are at the relocated junction 07. Take the hairpin turn left, towards 11. Cycle past a chapel from 1704 back to the canal and follow the towpath to the right. The path turns into a wide asphalt road, past an industrial zone, a ballet school, some catering establishments and a chapel. Bend under a bridge. At the Royal Breese Tennis Club turn left and at a white house turn right. At the first intersection turn left into the Rorenweg, past farm Stukkenheidehof, where you can play broom golf, and 't Rorenijsje. Keep cycling straight ahead, without caring about side roads, until the (provisional) replacement junction 11. Turn left over the Bailey Bridge and across the canal, direction 12. Turn right until junction 12, in Tongerlo, at tavern de Keeper. Follow the speed towards 10. Turn right into the narrow asphalt road. Turn left into that road, when the works are over, because then you will come from the other side. Don't worry about side roads to the intersection with Roermonderstraat. Right. On the left is the church of 't Hasselt. Carefully cross the N73 and continue cycling along the Beerselerdijk. At junction 10 direction 15, through an open agricultural landscape and the Kievithoeve. Cross the Horstgaterbeek and cycle past a large farm. Go further into the forest, past 't Hasselterbroek 1 and a farm from 1877. Cross the Nieuwebeek, leave the parking lot of 't Hasselterbroek on the left, cross a second bridge (with a beautiful chapel on the left) and cycle further right until junction 15. Continue straight ahead, direction 16, and follow Grootbroekstraat until you can turn left into the Shopping Street. Further between the meadows. Ignore the Donkerdijk on the right and continue cycling to the intersection with the Eikelenbosweg, at junction 16. Continue straight ahead, direction 17. At the intersection with a little on the right at the back of the Chapel of Saint Hubert, cycle straight ahead and at the next fork keep right. From mill to mill across the border Ignore all side streets, to the center of Molenbeersel. You cycle through the Oudekerkstraat, with the Zorgvlietmolen 2 on the left, straight towards the church. At the crossroads at the church go straight into the Smeetsstraat, past parish hall Sint-Isidorius and the Keijersmolen 3. A tip: if the miller is present, you can visit the mill for free. Continue cycling towards 17. Cross a crossroads, don't worry about side roads and cycle past the Schreyvenkapel (1845). At the fork, keep right. Follow Grootbeersel, ignore the Looverstraat on the right and you will reach junction 17. Turn left, direction 91. Cross a crossroads and continue cycling on the Oude Stramproyerweg between the fields. Ignore side roads to the intersection with Rietbroek and a field cross. Straight. You are now in the Netherlands and you can tell by the color of the signage: white-green in the Netherlands and blue-white in Belgian Limburg. At junction 91 turn left, direction 90. You now cycle next to a busier road, on a wide cycle path that is separated from the roadway by a grass strip. You enter Stramproy next to the Sint-Jansmolen 4 from 1783. Turn right at the church and then left into prinses Beatrixstraat. Don't worry about side roads until you can turn right into Veldstraat. Even now, ignore all the side streets and cycle past De Nijverheid 5, a windmill from 1903. You cycle past some picturesque houses and turn left into the Crixstraat, until junction 90, at the intersection with the Kruisstraat. Turn right, direction 86, again through an agricultural landscape. At the end of the Kruisstraat turn left and at the next fork, at the cross with the white Lord, choose right. You now cycle over the Eltenbosdijk. Where it turns to the right, you cycle straight on the gravel road. At a white building, called Brilske, you come back on asphalt and at a crossroads with junction 86. Continue straight ahead on the asphalt, towards 85. Past a field cross under some trees you come to junction 85. Turn right into Pruiskesweg, direction 75, turn left and continue cycling on a separate cycle path. Through the Laura forests At the Wijffelterbroek nature reserve, turn right. The cycle path stops and you continue cycling on an asphalt road. A wide stream over and at the next intersection through a sasje on the Wijffelterbroekdijk on the left, a field road with separate, asphalted cycle path. Bend with the path and continue cycling to the end. Pass a second sasje and cross the Bocholterweg. Follow the cycle path to the left. Turn right into Vetpeelweg. On the right a closed landfill of Weert, on which quite a lot of greenery grows. Just past the former landfill, turn left onto the tarmac path next to the field. Note! There was no signage here. You cycle between two hedgerows, next to a field road. On the left fields, on the right the nature reserve Laurabossen 6 . Continue to follow the winding cycle path along the edge of the nature reserve. You can even cycle through the Laura forests. After a few twists and turns and two cattle grids, you leave the nature reserve and you arrive at the Zuid-Willemsvaart and junction 75, with a picnic area on the right. Turn left towards 08, on a separate asphalted cycle path, next to a gravel road and the canal. At border marker 167, ignore the Kempenstraat on the left and cycle past a cave, direction 08 (from now on no longer signposted; only 210 straight signposted). Past the football field of SK Lozen you follow the canal until you can turn left into the Kanaalstraat. Ignore the Beekstraat on the right and follow the Kanaalstraat at the fork to the right until the departure point.