Hiking along the German border and through the forests around Heijen

Description

Just outside of Gennep, you can hike wonderfully. This route takes you through the Genneperheide, the Heijense forests, and along the Deutsche Lijntje, a former railway line.

Genneperheide
Before you set off, you can have something to drink and eat at the Old Inn, a cozy café with a Burgundian atmosphere. From here, you can directly access the Genneperheide, a slightly hilly nature reserve located on an old river dike of the Maas. The winding path takes you through a coniferous forest planted around 1930 for mining purposes. Here, you can enjoy a peaceful walk among the fragrant pine wood.

Zeven Morgensiep
Additionally, you will briefly enter the Heijense forests, where you will find more variety between deciduous and coniferous trees. At the edge of the forest, you look over the fields before walking back to the Genneperheide. Once there was a NATO storage facility here; now you can enjoy the tranquility at the pond De Zeven Morgensiep. In the last section of the route, you are traveling along the Deutsche Lijntje, the former railway line between Boxtel and the German Wesel.

Deutsche Lijntje
The Deutsche Lijntje was opened in 1873 by the North Brabant-German Railway Company (NBDS). With this railway line, they aimed to create a direct, therefore shorter, connection between the seaports of Antwerp and Rotterdam and the German hinterland. Until 1910, this railway line played a role in the transport of goods and passengers between London, Berlin, and even further to Russia in the east. Until 1914, members of the royal families of England, Wales, Prussia, and the Russian Tsar family used these railway connections for travel. Due to World War I, the NBDS went bankrupt, after which the NS continued to operate the line. Passenger services were discontinued in 1950, and freight services in 2004.