Gravel routes in North Brabant: Landal GreenParks Klein Oisterwijk is your starting point!

For our 12 provinces, 12 months, 12 parks series in cooperation with Landal GreenParks in February 2024, we settled down in beautiful North Brabant! To be precise, at Landal GreenParks Klein Oisterwijk. We will be exploring the beautiful gravel routes in North Brabant. Explorer Andrea set off for us, together with Aniek, Manon and Leandra. Read along about her gravel adventure in the Brabant countryside?

text and photos: Andrea Lodder

Getting in

In the dark, we drive into the long street on which Landal GreenParks Klein Oisterwijk is located. I have to admit, I still have trouble pronouncing 'Oisterwijk'. Around half past seven, we stand in front of the park's barrier. You used to have to go to reception for a key and entry card. Now Landal GreenParks has an app that allows you to drive straight into the park. You can enter your booking, hold your phone against the scanner and the barrier opens. Nice getting in, especially if you arrive later in the evening. We can drive on by car to our house, which is at the very back of the park, and park the car in front. That's nice! Just like the barrier, we can also enter the cottage using the Landal GreenParks app on our phone. The nice thing is also, this allows anyone to enter the cottage and you don't need multiple keys. You can share the digital key via the app, which is ideal! 

Gravel routes in North Brabant

So this weekend we are in Oisterwijk in Brabant, a village northeast of Tilburg. From here you can go in many directions, on road bikes, gravel bikes and mountain bikes. There is something here for all disciplines. We opted for the gravel bike this weekend and will be exploring the farm tracks and gravel paths in the surrounding nature reserves. For tomorrow, I have created a gravel route in Komoot and clicked on as many brown lines as possible. Fair is fair, in this area you have to make good use of the nature reserves where cycling is allowed. Oisterwijk has lots of woods and fens, but in many places cycling is not allowed. Therefore, we head for a gravel route to the Loonse and Drunense dunes and we drive through nature reserve Kampina. But first, time for a cup of tea to cosily kick off the girls' weekend!

Landal GreenParks Klein Oisterwijk as an ideal operating base

After a good breakfast in our spacious house, we get on our bikes for a route of just under a hundred kilometres. It has just stopped raining, so that's convenient. We first cross a small part of the Kampina nature reserve. Landal GreenParks Klein Oisterwijk lies between this area and the Oisterwijk woods and fens. So here you can enjoy hiking as well as cycling. But we are here for the most beautiful gravel routes in North Brabant! Soon we find a few beautiful and mostly quiet gravel lanes that lead us to De Loonse en Drunenense Duinen. You can tell that this is a popular mountain bike spot, but with such a nicely laid-out mountain bike route, that's no surprise. Just be aware that some parts of the route require a MTB vignette required is.

So we ride a section of the route, which is really very fat! Beautiful curves, short climbs and technical sections with sand. Totally fun, and it's a beautiful area! There are not a whole lot of gravel paths between the nature reserves, or at least; Komoot has some trouble with them. The large amount of rainfall in recent weeks has also flooded quite a few paths in the forests that you won't get through without a swimming certificate A. As a result, we are also missing some nice bits. But, not to worry, our coffee stop is soon approaching!

Cycling café KAMU is the ideal stop

In the heart of Breda, we stop for a coffee - and cake - at cycle café KAMU. A nice alternative spot with a very high living room level. It is a combination between a small bike shop and a lunch room. Besides coffee, they also make the most delicious sandwiches and you can read a book on the comfortable sofa. After sitting there a bit too long and having had a bit too much coffee, we continue on our way. After all, we still have to go back a bit to Oisterwijk. 

Via Gilze and Tilburg

Once we zigzagged out of the city centre, we headed back to the park via Gilze and Tilburg. On this part of the route, we don't encounter many stretches of forest and gravel, so we have to look for more off-road sections for tomorrow's route. Just before dark we drive back into the park and, neat as we are, we clean the bikes first before jumping into the shower ourselves. Behind the cottage is a small covered area with a platform where the bikes can stand and where we can give them some much-needed TLC. At night, this is also a great place to put the bikes, with a lock around them, of course. 

Fine accommodation

The cottage has a comprehensive kitchen with oven, electric hob and everything you need for a few days in the park. This evening, we opt for the easy way of the orange delivery service. A big bowl of sushi is our reward. When our bellies are full again, I grab the laptop and start Komoot up. The weather for tomorrow looks less attractive, but nothing can stop us. After all, we love a bit of mud! I was tipped to head a little further south, where experts say there will be more gravel. After some clicking on the map, a route of about 50 kilometres rolls out. Perfect for a drizzly Sunday. But, for now, into our warm beds first!

Rain is a blessing

Getting up with the tapping of the rain on the roof going on is quite soothing, but not when you have a bike ride planned. I did say quite boldly that nothing will stop us, but I must say that today we are a little less in a hurry to get on our bikes. So we definitely take our time for the sumptuous Sunday morning breakfast. Buienradar says it should be dry around 10.30 am. A glance outside and we know that Buienradar is wrong yet again. That means the mackintoshes can get out of the bag and we get on our bikes in the rain. 

Lovely gravel routes in North Brabant

The route gets off to a good start with a long stretch of gravel right through the forest. Ignoring the occasional flooded path, we set course for the Oirschotse Heide. A large part of this area is used as a military training ground and a long tank track runs through it, which is perfect for polishing up your technical skills. So it rained all night, so as expected it is very wet and we slalom around the big puddles. I must say that this makes it a lot more fun and so we secretly have fun when we have to drive through a deep puddle. Just like in the old days when you cycled through puddles on your little bike and got soaking wet. Lovely. 

The hospitable North Brabant of Guus Meeuwis

Only less pleasant is when you get a puncture with this drizzling weather and semi-wet suit. We were still so lucky. Until halfway through the route a front tyre went flat. Being strong independent womans as we are, we spun the wheel out and changed the tyres within five minutes. Downside is that you do get so cold right away when you stand still. Can only mean one thing: looking for a coffee shop to warm up! A few kilometres later, we drive past a typical Brabant tavern where we do have to stop. We order a hot chocolate, pancake and Burgundian lunch and warm ourselves up. Brabant hospitality radiates from here too. I can understand why Guus Meeuwis dedicated a song to this beautiful province. Apart from the irresistible sausage rolls and Bossche bollen, the surroundings here are very varied and the people enormously open and welcoming. 

Straight home?

The most direct route back to the cottage counts just under twenty kilometres. Still, we end up with a total of about fifty kilometres. I approve, especially after it's sneakily a bit wetter than we thought. Still, we had a nice ride, so the satisfied feeling is definitely there too! With the necessary wind against us, we ride back to Oisterwijk. The advantage of the wind is that we are nicely blown dry, which saves a lot of rubbish when we return. That is one of the disadvantages of cycling in bad weather in winter, all the cleaning and dirty laundry you get. Spring cannot come soon enough as far as I'm concerned. 

Back just in time

We can just catch the final of the cyclocross World Cup and watch Mathieu van der Poel prolong his world title and our Achterhoek pride Joris Nieuwenhuis take home the silver medal. Great ending to an even better weekend! After a hot shower, it's time to pack up our stuff again and sweep through the cottage. There were four of us, but two more people could be added. In fact, the cottage has room for six people, which would also be fine! When the weather is nice, you can sit outside on the terrace at the garden table and there is more than enough room inside as well. As I mentioned, you can park your car at the cottage, which then also has space for three cars. All in all, this is a perfect place for a midweek - or weekend - with your cycling friends in which you will definitely not get bored. 

Gravel routes in North Brabant from Landal GreenParks Klein Oisterwijk