This route follows the Bels Lijntje. It was a railway line between Tilburg and Turnhout, and this route formed the Dutch part of railway line 29. Since the end of the twentieth century, the Bels Lijntje has been a cycle path. Until 1865, the entire area between Turnhout and Baarle-Nassau was dominated by vast heath fields. In that year, the construction of the railway line between Turnhout and Tilburg began, and the Weelde-Merksplas station (south of the Steenweg on Zondereigen) was built. The railway line was established and operated by the “Grand Central Belge,” leading to the railway line commonly being referred to as the "Bels Lijntje" in the (North Brabant) vernacular.