Gravel road Brachterwald - Schwalm - Meinweg

This gravel road consists of 66% gravel roads (an overview of all gravel strips and their length can be found at the bottom of the description) and you follow clockwise.
The gravel strips are good almost everywhere, so you can cycle this route even with a road bike with solid puncture protection tires.

The route starts at the small parking lot at the former Café Maalbeekerhöhe, east of Belfeld directly on the border with Germany. If the car park is full, you can also start from the nearby Europarcs holiday park. The first part of the route leads through woodland (Ravensheide) and along the edge of the Brachterwald the terrain here is slightly hilly. At Born (east of Brüggen) you follow the gravel cycle path for a long time over a former railway line to Waldniel. You will pass some lakes (Borner See, Heidweiher). The railway line is located in the valley of the Kranenbach and south of Amern you can see that the valley is flanked by small hills.

Then you cycle through Waldniel, you cycle through the beautiful center across the market and then cycle towards the catchment area of the Schwalm. At Lüttelforst you follow a gravel path along the river Swalm. Since this trail is right along the river and two-thirds of the trail is forest on the west side of the trail (so the sun can't shine on the trail), the ground here remains wetter than elsewhere (so it can be slippery here at times!). You will then arrive in Niederkrüchten and cycle to the beautifully situated village of Varbrook, where you will climb onto a plateau. You will then cycle on gravel roads through Forst Meinweg, and later, after passing Dalheim, you will cycle on gravel bike paths and gravel roads through the Meinweg National Park.

Via Elmpt it goes to the Elmpter Schwalmbruch, a nature reserve around lakes that were excavated in the riverbed of the Swalm. You do not cycle directly along the lakes, but through wooded areas and along slightly higher heathlands to avoid possible wetness of the gravel paths directly along these lakes. Then you come to the main road between Swalmen and Brüggen. You follow it briefly until just past the border crossing (where you can take a break in the café "Aan de Grens"). Directly across the border you dive on gravel roads into the Diergardtsch Forest and later into the Brachterwald: Here you get long gravel strips for the bikes.

You will then reach Witte Stein and take the combined unpaved footpath/cycle path along the edge of the forest in a northeasterly direction. Due to the campsite at Witte Stein, you can expect more leisure traffic (walkers / cyclists) here in good weather than elsewhere on the route. East of Belfeld you cycle on some gravel roads and again on a dirt bike path along the steep edge that dips into Germany. Finally, you climb the steep edge via the gravel road Oude Brachterweg (max. 6%) and descend over gravel to the beautiful gravel hole Tegelen. You stay on gravel roads and climb steeply out of the gravel hole (max. 9%) and through forest area and along the Hühnerkamp nature reserve you reach the Maalbeekerhöhe again.

Gravel strips and their length in kilometers:

3.7 Hühnerkamp -> Ravensheide
0.8 Stieg Street
1.6 Along the Brachterwald
0.8 Former mill landfill > St. Barbara Street
0.7 On the Vennberg (along the Wölfchensheide)
2.2 Former railway line: from the Borner Mühle to the Heidweiher
0.3 Underpass L372
2.2 Bahnstraße (former Amern > Waldniel railway line)
0.4 Rüsgen
0.1 Park Waldniel
0.3 Chicken field
1.2 Lüttelforster Peschen
1.9 Along the Swalm
1.2 Second part along the Swalm
3.5 Forst Meinweg
4,5 NP De Meinweg
2.4 Stinkesraadweg
1.1 Meinweg > Hillenkamp
2.6 Elmpter Schwalmbruch
0.8 In Tackenbenden
7.5 Diergardtscher Wald/Brachterwald to Witte Stein
4.1 From Witte Stein via Brachterwald/Oberer Schorfweg
0,9 Bosheide/Molenbeekweg
3.0 Holtmühle -> Mölbeekerhöhe
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47.8 km of gravel roads (= 66.0%)