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Natural Monuments

The Handel ridge

Natural Monuments

The Handel ridge

Highlight • Natural Monument

The Handel ridge

Name: The Handel ridge
Rating: 2

Recommended by 7 hikers

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Location: Gemert-Bakel, North Brabant, Netherlands

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Best Hikes to The Handel ridge

4.6

(14)

hikers

1. Procession Park Handel – De Perekker Nature Reserve loop from Handel

10.0km

02:32

10m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Intermediate

4.8

(11)

hikers

2. De Rooye Lake – Nature Center De Specht loop from Handel

11.2km

02:49

10m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Intermediate

4.3

(3)

hikers

3. De Rooye Lake – Nature Center De Specht loop from Handel

13.5km

03:24

20m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Intermediate

Tips

Ria van den Heuvel

March 18, 2025

Drifting sand and the Handel rampart.

Around 1800, the drifting sand posed a threat to Bakel, De Mortel and Handel. The crops in the fields were buried by the drifting sand that blew off the heathland around the villages. In those days, Gemert-Bakel looked a lot like a desert.

The cause was that the cattle had eaten all the vegetation and the farmers had cut too many heath and grass sods to fertilise the fields. This created large bare patches of sand. Fortunately, most of the sand was captured in the trees and shrubs of the Handel rampart. A rampart of oak trees was often constructed specifically to capture the sand around the fields. In Handel, this rampart was up to 8 metres high; the Handelse mountains. The highest parts of the rampart were dug up for construction sand in the mid-20th century.

Artificial fertiliser was invented around 1850. The sod cutting is no longer necessary and the heath can recover. Unlike cover sand, which is bright blond in colour, drift sand has a slightly greyish-grey colour. This is because humus-rich topsoil has been blown along with it. In the municipality of Gemert-Bakel, there are also beautiful drift sand areas at Stippelberg, Esp, Hoogen-Aarle and on the Grotelsche Heide. But nowhere in Gemert-Bakel is the edge wall as well developed as at Handel.

source: heerlijckvrijspel.nl

Translated by Google •

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Elevation 40 m

Weather

Today

Monday 3 November

12°C

11°C

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Max wind speed: 14.0 km/h

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See hikes here

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Location: Gemert-Bakel, North Brabant, Netherlands

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The Handel ridge

1. Procession Park Handel – De Perekker Nature Reserve loop from Handel

2. De Rooye Lake – Nature Center De Specht loop from Handel

3. De Rooye Lake – Nature Center De Specht loop from Handel

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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