Bels Lijntje

Railway line Tilburg - TurnhoutThe Bels Lijntje was a railway line between Tilburg and Turnhout and this route formed the Dutch part of Railway Line 29. Since 1990, the Bels Lijntje has been a cycle path.Until 1865 the entire area between Turnhout and Baarle-Nassau was dominated by vast heaths. In that year the construction of the railway line between Turnhout and Tilburg was started and the Weelde-Merksplas station (south of the Steenweg on Zondereigen) was built. The railway line was built and operated by the "Grand Central Belge", so that the railway line in the (North Brabant) popularly called "Bels lijntje".In 2009, a lookout tower was placed near the Kleine Klotteraard-Oost fen. This tower, 13 meters high, was built as part of the Turnhouts Vennengebied-West nature development project, in collaboration between the Agency for Nature and Forest and the Flemish Land Agency. In 2013 there were reports in the media that Dutch and Belgian municipalities were consulting to possibly broaden the Bels Lijntje because the cycle path would be too narrow for oncoming groups of cyclists.Wikipedia

Beautiful road through nature from Tilburg to Turnhout. Old stations along the cycle path.

Pleasant part of the real bike path that goes a long way in the Netherlands.

Along the route you can still see various railway attributes and buildings.