The Laarbeek trail - Stage 1 (of 5)

Directions

Reference is made to route posts at various points. The entries are intended only as additional landmarks.

1.
At the 3-spot before the church and with your back to the entrance of the church leave RA, ‘Koppelstraat’, then at 3-spot LA towards ‘Town Hall’, ‘Koppelstraat’, follow the road until road “Parklaan” on the right in front of a large park with a pond and building ‘Heemkamer De Lange Vonder’, ignore other side paths and side roads.
At this road RA, ‘Parklaan’, then before the white building of ‘Heemkamer De Lange Vonder’ on the left, LA.
A little past the building, at a 3-spot before a pond RA, then RD, ignore the path on the right, follow the pond on the left.
Slightly past the ‘Park Pavilion’ and a statue, at crossroads LA, follow the pond on the left.
At junction with a small bridge on your left towards a kiosk RA, after leaving the park at junction with a paved road RD, gravel path through a large park with the town hall on your right.
# At the edge of the park there is a WWII memorial on the left in memory of civilian victims.

2.
At 4-junction with a bench on the left RA.
At junction with a paved road RD follow the right-hand path across the road.
At 4-junction RD towards a pond, at the pond follow the path with the pond on the left until a path on the right towards a road lock, slightly past some pollard willows on the bank of the pond with information panel ‘Knotwilg’, ignore other side paths on the right.
At this path walk RA towards the road, at the road with the traffic lock, at T-junction LA, paved road, then after about 50m RA, enter the narrow gravel path with a little further an elongated pond on the right, further on cross a small bridge, beyond the bridge follow the pond further on the left until a T-junction, ignore side paths.
At this T-junction RA, wide path, then before a watercourse LA, follow the path with the watercourse on your right to a bridge over the Goorloop stream.

3.
Before the small bridge, at junction RA, walk through the edge of the grassland with the stream on your left, beyond the grassland continue to follow the stream with bushes on your right.
Past a chapel on your right, at crossroads with a paved road RD, follow the narrow path with the stream on your left to a 3-spot with a concrete bridge on your left, ignore narrow road on your right.
At this 3-spot LA cross the concrete bridge, wn route, beyond the bridge path with the stream on left hand side, after approx. 60m the path bends to the right away from the stream, wn route.
At end of path, at T-junction LA, paved road, kn72 follow 73.
At T-junction RA, through road, wn route, a little further RD, ignore road ‘Heereneindsestraat’ on left hand side, kn73 follow 3, follow cycle path along through road.
Approx. 90m past house no.32 left of road LA, wide unpaved path, ‘Zwinkelweg’, wn route is abandoned.
At end of path, at T-junction RA, hardened road.

4.
At crossroads LA, follow the wide unpaved path to a path on the left before a green pump-box in the 2nd slight bend to the right.
At this path LA, kn1 follow 36, path with a watercourse on the left.
Past a small bridge over the Goorloop, at a crossroads RA, kn36 follow 37, follow the path with the stream on the right to a T-junction by a main road.
At this T-junction LA, follow the cycle path along the main road, ‘Lieshoutseweg’, wn route.
After approx. 120m cross the main road RA, watch out for busy road!!!, paved road, ‘Het Laar’, wn route.
Past house no.8, at 3 junction LA, ‘Groenewoudseweg Na ca. 50 meter’, wn route is abandoned.
Past dwelling no.2, in a bend to the left of the road RA, follow the wide unpaved path to a path on the right before a plot with poplars.
# In the bend beyond dwelling no.2, there is a fine view of a church tower on the left, this church tower is the remnant of the original St Michael's church which was demolished around 1813.

5.
At this path RA, path with the plot with the poplars on the left, after about 350m the path bends to the right, further on past a bend to the left the path passes between two farms.
At the end of the path, at T-junction RA, paved road, wn route.
In slight bend to the right of the road LA, unpaved path, kn37 follow 22.
Before a farm, keep left at 3 junction, wn route, path with the farm on the right.
# The farm is a historical farm named Het Vagevuur, a little further on were farms named De Hemel and De Hel. De Hemel still exists, De Hel disappeared when the Wilhelminakanaal was dug.
Before the Wilhelminakanaal, at T-junction LA, wide path with the canal on the right, the wn route is left.
At the end of the path RA cross the Laarbrug, on the other side, in a bend to the left of the road RA, paved cycle path with the canal on the right.
# The Laar bridge was erected in September 1947. Previously there was a high concrete bridge, built in 1932; the original bridge was blown up on 11 May 1940 when the Dutch army retreated.
RD, ignore path through an agricultural area on left.

6.
After approx. 90m keep left, unpaved path with a bench, kn38 follow 86.
Follow the path with a slight bend to the left, ignore dead-end path on the right.
At T-junction LA, cycle path along main road, the wn route is abandoned.
After approx. 250m RA, ‘Hoog Strijp’ follow the paved road to a bend to the left, ignore side paths on the right.
Past this bend RD, ‘Croylaan’, ignore road ‘Jonker Karellaan’ on the right, continue to follow the road until a dirt track on the left approx. 80m past house no.8 (house in a bend to the left of the road).
At this path LA, unpaved path, ‘Croylaan 1a-1b-1c’, kn59 follow 39.
Approx. 90m past farm no.1 RD, ignore hardened footpath on the right.
At transition to a hardened road LA through a swing gate, wn route, further on the path bends to the right, follow the path further until a T-junction at a through road.

7.
At this T-junction LA, cycle path along the main road, wn route.
Just before a house on the right of the road RA, unpaved path, wn route.
Before a small crucifix, at junction RD, wn route.
# The small crucifix Hagelkruis served to protect crops from hail, the crucifix is first mentioned in 1419.
Past a small cemetery on the left, at junction with a paved road RD, ‘Opstal’, kn39 follow 35, unpaved path along the back of houses.
At 3-junction keep right, paved road, wn route is abandoned.
At junction keep right, ‘Kerkstraat’, a little further at Y-junction also keep right.
At junction RD, ‘Kerkstraat’, kn51 follow 99, follow the road to a T-junction, ignore side roads.
At this T-junction LA towards the church, the end point, for walkers with public transport continue to follow the through road through the village until a park on the left at the park is along the through road the bus stop Dorpsstraat.

Legend:

RA = turn right, RD = straight on and LA = turn left
BL = Brabants Landschap
Walking networks:
Green/yellow markings, kn stands for a node post with numbered direction, wn stands for network route post with direction only.