Tour from the Memorial Chapel to the coal town of Ubach Palenberg

The mining past marks this region. The black soil and the encompassing rock mountains shaped the landscape. The entire border area was black, and how wonderfully black it has now become green.

The route begins at the monumental mine entrance and the learning mine in Landgraaf, where the memorial chapel also reminds of the dark past. We already enjoy this region through the production forest of the mines, which pass by old farms and ponds and the Strijthagerbeek. Passing by Strijthagen Castle with its special ice cellar (now a paradise for bats), we reach the Hopel mining area.

The walk takes you past a series of streams, lakes, and brooks that were once black due to the runoff from the coal mines and are now praised for their clarity and splendor as well as for the trout and even the living beaver. This variation in nature also provides a special growth of flowers and plants with the associated insects and birds.

Here you will find watermills, farms, and castles, as well as, alongside the remnants of the mines, gravel and sandstone quarries, some of which are still in use.