Hill Fault Trail

Hill and Fault Trail is largely unpaved, so wear sturdy shoes or boots! You will also pass a number of walking locks, making this route unsuitable for wheelchairs and strollers. The starting point of the Hill and Fault Trail is on the Schansweg near the Oude Bosweg. There is an opportunity to park your car/bicycle here.

This route is part of the walking route network, so you can always start your route at a different point or extend it with another one. Hill and Fault Trail takes you through a varied landscape around the hamlet of Bedaf. The area is part of the De Maashorst nature reserve, one of the largest nature reserves in Brabant.

History

The Bedafse Bergen, a steep and elongated drifting sand dune, is 18 meters high compared to the surrounding ground level. The highest drifting sand dune in North Brabant. The Bedafse Bergen have not always looked like this. About 4000-5000 years ago, Brabant was covered with a layer of sand on which mainly oak birch forests grew Farmers settled in this area around 1100 and grazed their cattle in the forests. Due to increasing grazing, the forest disappeared and the landscape changed into vast heathlands with drifting sand. This drifting sand was created because farmers teased the heathland close to their farm too often. To prevent the sand from drifting, hedgerows were constructed at the edge of the fields and hamlets. Because the hedgerows became covered with sand, they became higher. Scots pines were planted on the dry and barren flanks of the Bedafse Bergen. The wood from these trees was used in the Limburg mines. Only the elongated shape of the hills and the oaks on the hill tops still remind us of the former hedgerows. Nowadays, forest management is focused on more deciduous wood and nature development in combination with recreational use.