Maasheggen - Peel - Raam gravel route

General Description:
This gravel route consists of 51% gravel roads and departs from the parking lot on the southern edge of the Sint-Anthonisbossen. The route is very varied:
- you cycle through many nature reserves: Sint Anthonis forests, Molenheide, Estersbroek, Landgoed Ossenbroek, De Vilt (an old arm of the Meuse), Maasheggen (including the Oeffelter Meent) and the Brestbosch.
- you cycle along many bodies of water (along the Maas (2x), along the Raam, along the Defence and Peel Canal, along the Kraaijenbergse Plassen)
- and you cycle past Tongelaar Castle. 
Along the Defence Canal/Peel Canal you cycle past about twenty casemates (remnants of the Second World War (Peel-Raam position)).
The Maasheggen area is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, where plots and (gravel) roads are bordered by braided hedges.

Abbreviation:
The route can be shortened, for example by turning right after about a kilometre after passing Tongelaar Castle to the Hogekampseweg. The share of gravel roads will then remain at 51% of the total distance of the route (which will then be 78 kilometers long).

Road conditions:
Since the gravel roads are mainly located along canals, in the floodplains of the Maas and in nature reserves, you bridge twice a longer asphalt section of about 6 kilometers (roughly speaking, the area between Wanroij, Rijkevoort and the Sint Anthonisbossen is hardly dotted with gravel roads).

The gravel roads vary from wide to narrow and even singletrack-like in terms of width (in the Estersbroek nature reserve), which are often still good to cycle after rainy periods. However, the Hogenkampseweg can be considerably worse in the last 400 meters (seen from the west) after rainy periods if agricultural traffic has often driven on the road. The gravel cycle path along the Defence Canal can remain wet for a long time because the path is overgrown with trees behind a dike (which means that the path is often in the shade and out of the wind in winter). This trail is also popular with hikers. The path along the De Vilt nature reserve can also be wet after rainy periods. At the Heidestraat (west of Gassel) there is a sign "Bad road surface": this gravel road is particularly rich in potholes. The Paddenhoolseweg can also be wet/muddy at the level of the bridge over a stream after long periods of rain. And the dirt road around the Brestbosch nature reserve is a kind of cart track in the second part, with lots of grass: this path can get really soggy wet after rainy periods (but not really muddy because of all that grass).

Food and drinks along the way:
The only possibility to eat and drink along the way directly on the route is Het Veerhuis Oeffelt at kilometer 67.5 (with the abbreviation described above, it is at kilometer point 52.5).

Gravel strips and their length in kilometres:
6.9 St. Anthony's Woods
1.6 Molenheide part 1
0,5 Molenheide part 2
2.4 Molenheide part 3
0.8 Paddenhoolseweg
5.5 Defense Channel
1.1 Hoevensedijk
1.2 Tongelaar
0,1 Kammerbergweg
2.4 Karweg/Berg en Dalweg
0,7 Middelrotscheweg
0,6 Graafschedijk -> Uilenweg
1.1 Hogendijk
1.1 Heidestraat (note: many potholes)
3.3 Fazantweg/Bordscheweg/Hogenkampseweg
1.2 Trouser lace
0,3 Giepkestraat
0.8 Height
0.3 Kuiperstraat
0.7 Bluestone
0.6 Forest Camp
1.4 Drogesestraat
0.9 Mount of the Dead
0,5 Houwsestraat
0.6 Highveld
0.3 High End Part 1
0.5 High end part 2
2.5 Hagelkruisstraat (Maasheggen)
0,3 Maasdijk -> Provincial road
1.1 The Felt
0,2 Heiveldsestraat - > Weverstraat
0.3 High Start District
2.2 Brestbosch
0.3 Zeros
0.6 Forest road
0.2 The State
0.5 Flag Mountain
1.3 Vlagberg -> Gemertseweg
0,5 Sint Anthonisbossen
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47.4 km (= 50.9%) unpaved roads