Peat to Breda

This 67 kilometer long international cycle route goes from Etten-Leur via Nieuwmoer to Breda.
The route goes through forests, along forest edges and open agricultural areas.

From Etten-Leur the route goes along various former peat canals to Nieuwmoer.
From Nieuwmoer the Turfvaart is more or less followed to Breda.

The cycle route starts and ends at:
The Bishop's Mill
Bisschopsmolenstraat 235,
4876 AM Etten-Leur

The Turfvaart to Breda is a watercourse of about 24 km length that runs through the nature reserves Pannenhoef and Vloeiweide past Effen to Breda, where it flows into the Aa or Weerijs.
The Turfvaart was dug in the 17th century. The first part of the Turfvaart was completed in 1619. The canal was an important artery from which the area was vegetated. The canal drained the peat bog and transported the peat to Breda. On the way back, the peat ships took manure with them, in order to make the peat bog area fertile. However, it was too little to make the mined areas all fertile. Many of them became heathland again, until after 1900 they were mined or planted with coniferous wood.
Dyeing began to wane at the end of the 17th century, as the best extraction sites were already exhausted. The last peat cargo was transported to Breda in 1733. From 1763 the watercourse was still used to power the IJzermolen of Rijsbergen.