Walking route De Peel – Mussenbaan Blue

Starting point: Buitencentrum De Pelen

Moostdijk 15

6035 RB

Ospel

Route

Walking/hiking routes

A walk of less than five kilometres, but one you won’t soon forget. The walking route De Peel takes you through De Groote Peel National Park, a unique nature reserve on the border of North Brabant and Limburg. Here, you walk through a landscape unlike anywhere else in the Netherlands – wide open, quiet and full of stories.

No boots needed, but hiking shoes are a must

The only way to truly experience De Groote Peel is on foot. Once a wet and impassable area, the park is now accessible thanks to wooden boardwalks and old peat tracks. Still, it remains a wild landscape – boggy in some places, open and vast in others. This 4.86-kilometre trail shows you the many faces of the park.

Wide views, birds and peat history

Along the way, you pass a birdwatching hut, a viewing tower and meadows where, with a bit of luck, you might spot black-tailed godwits nesting. In winter, you’ll often see flocks of geese. The Mussenbaan route leads through a former peat-cutting area. You can still sense that history in the land. It feels empty and silent, yet full of life – especially in the sky, where birds steal the show.