Along the Pijp

Details: Parent Category: Limburg province; Category: Limburg - Walks; Last Updated: 23 July 2021; Hits: 821

Moderate

De Groote Peel National Park is a beautiful hiking area with a rich nature. The former peat bog area also has a special history, many traces of which can still be seen in the field. The history of peat extraction and other uses of the peat also lives on in the many field names.

Along the Pijp

Along the Pijp

Distance: 15 km

Duration: 3h30

Grade: Moderate

Gps track: Yes

Route description: Yes

Type: Circular walk

Height gain: No information available

Way mark: See PDF route description

Wheelchair: Unsuitable

Dog: Allowed on leach

The Vossenberg.

Field names such as 't Eeuwig Leven, Aan' t Elfde, De Pijp, Koe-uier and Lumme Buske are some of the many field names in this area. Each of these names says something about the particular piece of peel, such as 't Eeuwig Leven. This place was once home to an inn with that name, a beautiful name for a place of rest in a dangerous peat bog with treacherous drifts in which you could just disappear. The Pijp after which this route is named are places where people smoked a pipe during the breaks of working in the Peel. Due to the fire hazard it was forbidden to smoke anywhere else. This only happened in the pit or in a place where it was not a fire hazard. The Peel workers also had a silver cap on the pipe to prevent sparks from coming off. Moreover, they did not smoke when they were on their way home from the pit to beyond the Peel. Furthermore, the walking tour goes through the Vossenberg, the highest part of the Peel, so named because foxes liked to make their holes in this sand hill. Due to its high and dry location, it also seemed an ideal place for the army to use for defense in World War II. The casemates that one passes on Vossenberg have been part of the Peel line of defense (1939-1940).

98% of this walk is unpaved.

This walking tour cannot be done during the breeding season from 15 March to 15 July and during the bird migration from 15 October to 30 November, parts of the area are not open to the public during those periods.