This Route Information belongs to the story

The Unseen Light: Chasing Van Gogh’s Shadow on the Kempenroute

Kempenroute GPX

1 file(s) 273 KB

Download

The Van Gogh Route: Chasing Light and Shadow through the Brabantse Kempen

This guide details the ANWB Kempenroute, a deeply cultural and scenic 141-kilometer loop through the historical heart of the Netherlands and a brief dip into Belgium. Designed for the thoughtful explorer, this route traces the line between the region's hard, agrarian past (the "poor corner" of the Netherlands) and its artistic, preserved present.

This is a ride of texture and history, best enjoyed at a moderate pace to absorb the profound landscapes that inspired artists like Vincent van Gogh.

Leg 1: The Medieval Start and Waterways (Oirschot to Nuenen)

Starting Point: Oirschot Begin your journey in the medieval heart of Oirschot. This protected village view provides a cinematic start with architecture rooted in the 15th century.

• Cultural Anchor: Take a moment to view the solemn Romanesque tower of the Boterkerkje and the town's crisp brickwork. The blend of ancient stone and modern life perfectly sets the stage for the Kempen's paradox.
• The Route Begins: Leave the village view and dive into a landscape defined by water. You'll follow the gentle windings of the Dommel and Beerze rivers and the straight, purposeful cut of the Wilhelminakanaal.
• Towns of Labor: You'll pass through Best, a town once famous for its legions of wooden clog makers (klompenmakers), a quiet testament to the simple, practical labor that defined life here for centuries.

The Painter's Crucible: Nuenen The ride continues as the road tightens, leading you toward the pivotal village of Nuenen. This was Van Gogh’s home for two crucial years, where the darkness of the industrializing, agrarian countryside seeped into his palette.

• Rider Insight: Slow down here. The engine’s low vibration will become a pulse of reverence. Pass the long, low, whitewashed farmhouses—the direct descendants of the humble dwellings Van Gogh sketched endlessly, homes of the keuterboertjes (small farmers).
• Historical Stop 1: VINCENTRE: While the VINCENTRE museum provides the documentary history, the emotional truth of Nuenen lies outside.
• Historical Stop 2: Van Gogh-Roosgaarde Cycle Path: Park your bike and walk to this mesmerizing modern installation. Thousands of sparkling stones embedded in the asphalt recreate The Starry Night (De Sterrennacht). This confluence of past and future—Van Gogh's vision rendered in kinetic, solar-powered light—is a must-see.

Leg 2: Heathlands, Windmills, and the Great Silence (Nuenen to Heeze)

The Nature Corridor: Nuenen to Lierop Leaving the historical concentration of Nuenen, the asphalt ribbon begins to curve and flow. The small, quick turns give way to long, sweeping stretches bordered by dense pine and deciduous forest.

• Geography Lesson: This section, pushing past Mierlo and toward Lierop, is a masterclass in regional geography. The woods are broken suddenly by vast expanses of purple-and-green heide (heathland), spotted with dark, still vennen (fens).
• A Meditation on Survival: The Kempen's nature reserves are less about distance and more a meditation on the survival of wilderness. The air temperature drops several degrees, and the scent of pine needles and wet peat replaces the smell of cultivation.
• Wild Kempen Highlights:
  • Molen- en Luchense Heide: Look for old standerdmolens (post mills) still turning their sails, marking the enduring human presence.
  • Gebergten: Ride past the desolate, beautiful stuifzand (shifting sands) of this area.
• Lierop: Pause at this tiny town, marked by a majestic dome-topped church—a surprising echo of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

The Kempen’s Lung: Strabrechtse Heide From Lierop, ride directly into the vast, immersive embrace of the Strabrechtse Heide. This is the Kempen’s lung and the largest remaining heathland in Brabant.

• Riding Focus: The road narrows here, and the sheer scale of the landscape commands attention. The open air allows you to fully appreciate the sharp, clean scent of the dense green juniper berries that fill your helmet. This landscape—too poor to farm—is the truest representation of the historical Kempen.
• Historical Pause: Heeze: In Heeze, pause at the imposing 17th-century moated castle, still one of the last inhabited castles in the country. It serves as a powerful symbol of aristocratic resilience set against the quiet, century-long resilience of the humble farmer.

Leg 3: Crossing the Shadow Line (Heeze to Hamont, Belgium)

Southbound to the Border: Leende to Hamont From the well-tended farmlands around Leende, the road leads you south. The route’s emotional climax is not a mountain pass but a quiet, almost imperceptible border crossing.

• Border Insight: The signage subtly changes, and the asphalt texture shifts. You have passed the imaginary line and entered Belgium, reaching the town of Hamont.
• The Spiritual Anchor: Achelse Kluis (St. Benedictus Abbey): The short, winding ride to the Trappist monastery is essential. The Abbey sits precisely on the border, a spiritual anchor that straddles the two nations and the centuries.
• The Silence: Cut your engine completely in the courtyard and let the profound silence rush in—a deep, settling quiet defined only by the distant murmur of monastic life.
• Historical Truth: This place of stabilitas (stability and permanence) was chosen for contemplation and simple, hard labor. In the Abbey shop, you can find the simple fruits of the monks' labor (their bread, their famous Trappist beer, their stillness) before remounting your bike for the return journey.

Leg 4: The Eight Beatitudes and the Return (Bergeyk to Oirschot)

The Final Stanza: De Acht Zaligheden The final leg brings you back across the border and into the historic Dutch heartland known as De Acht Zaligheden (The Eight Beatitudes). This chain of villages, where nature and culture are perfectly preserved, is the perfect final stanza to the story.

• Bergeyk: The stark, beautiful sight of the standalone wooden bell tower, the luihuis, stands sentinel over the Gothic cross-church—a unique piece of architectural history. The Eicha Museum nearby whispers of the people who shaped this poor earth long before the painters and the monks.
• Eersel: The journey culminates in the stunning market square of Eersel. This protected village face is circled by grand facades, an aesthetic culmination of the prosperity the Kempen has finally achieved. The Kempenmuseum De Acht Zaligheden here showcases the rough-hewn life of the old farmsteads—the original, difficult existence that gives meaning to the modern bounty.
• The Last Miles: Your final miles are spent winding through the park-like estates of De Baest near Middelbeers, the forest and heath finally dissolving back into the cultivated fields.

Conclusion: Back in Oirschot The Kempenroute is a ride for the soul, a journey not of spectacular speed, but of deep, historical texture. It is a story about seeking the light in the shadows, realizing that the landscape of the Low Countries is anything but flat. It pulses with history, waiting to be felt through the tires and the wind, one quiet, profound kilometer at a time.