Around the Busjop: 10 km through the Leudal

The Leudal is an elevated nature reserve on the western bank of the Maas, with enough height difference to make this walk a healthy challenge. The route, a shortened, stroller-friendly variant of the Water Walking World Leudal route, starts and ends at Boscafé de Busjop in Heythuysen.

You walk through deciduous forests, heathlands, and open meadows, along the course of the Tungelroysebeek and later the Zelsterbeek. Along the way, you pass the St. Elisabethmolen, a restored water mill that has served as an oil and grain mill since the 16th century and now lies in the middle of the landscape, surrounded by brooks, meadows, and an old orchard. From the Litsberg, a steep sand wall at the foot of which the creek meanders, you have a wide view over the valley. 

Traces of the past

The route continues to the courtyard of the old St. Elisabeth convent, where the convent farm stands: a square farm with a bakery, presumably from the 13th century. The Leudal museum is also on the route. Shortly thereafter, the landscape changes: forest gives way to heath and grassland, where Icelandic horses graze, maintaining openness in the area.

On the higher part of the route, you walk through the Busjop burial field, an extensive burial ground with 17 tumuli, including a long burial mound. It is a prehistoric grave site where farmers from the surrounding area buried and cremated their dead about 3,000 years ago, after which the burnt bones were placed in urns and covered with turf. The mounds were out of sight for centuries due to overgrown forest; only in 2010 was the forest removed and the 17 mounds rediscovered and restored.

Shortly after, you reach Café Busjop, a place surrounded by stories. It is said that ghosts haunted this area long ago, and nowadays it is mainly known for a nice stopover!

The walk continues through an impressive heath landscape, the Langven with its meadows, a former pond that has dried up due to the drainage of surrounding farmland. The combination of nature and history makes this journey special, in every season.

Plants, birds, and beavers

This water-rich landscape offers rare plants an ideal habitat: in the marshy forests of the moist creek valleys, you can find buttercups, water lilies, and gold-veil, with sedge vegetation in damp places and wood anemones and primroses in the spring on drier ground. Birdwatchers can spot black and green woodpeckers, yellow wagtails, goldfinches, sparrowhawks, hobby falcons, and kingfishers along the way. Roe deer and foxes feel at home here, and even beavers have now discovered the area.

Practical
Distance: 10 km (shortened, stroller-friendly variant)
Start/finish: Boscafé de Busjop, Busschopsweg 9, Heythuysen
Catering: Boscafé de Busjop
Highlights: St. Elisabethmolen, Litsberg, Sint-Servaaskapel, St. Elisabeth convent with convent farm, Leudal museum, heathland, burial field Busjop (17 burial mounds), Langven.