Exploring the Dutch Mountain Trail: Eygelshoven to Bocholtz

On our second on the Dutch Mountain Trail we decided to tackle the first section from Eygelshoven to Bocholtz. The end point was based on a convenient public transport connection back to Heerlen. We took the car from our hotel TerWorm at the outskirts of Heerlen to the station where we took a bus to Eygelshoven. After arriving in Bocholtz we took a bus from there back to Heerlen station and then back by car to our hotel. This was our longest walk of in total 22k. The first part was quite nice. We had to do an extra k to get from the bus stop to the actual start of the trail next to the train station. This started us off immediately on a small path between the shrubs. This was almost 5k long until we reached ‘civilisation’ again in Kerkrade where we had to follow a short stretch along roads until Kerkrade GaiaZoo. Before reaching Kerkrade we had to climb the first summit of the Dutch Mountain Trail, Wilhelminaberg in Landgraaf. We got to the top and took in the view of the surroundings. Only then did we realise that this is also the location of SnowWorld, an indoor ski slope of almost 400 metres which we had visited the year before to prepare for a skiing vacation. After passing the zoo at the 7k point the path took a dive into some forrest again. We stopped for lunch on a bench and met some fellow travellers. After our break the path continued largely under the shade of trees along the edge of Kerkrade until we crossed the border into Germany after 11k. The landscape changed with on one side of the path open fields and on the other forests. We still had a lot of shade until we reached Horbach and the Wasserburg Haus Heyden. We had to walk a bit along roads into the village and then into the open fields under the blazing sun. This turned out to be a boring section of around 6k. At that point we crossed the border into The Netherlands again at Bocholtz and we left the path for another 2k walk into the village to get to the bus stop. After 22k we were quite happy that the walk was over and the bus was coming soon. Compared to yesterday, this section of the Dutch Mountain Trail was less pleasing. Public transport in The Netherlands is quite easy, you simply scan in with your phone or card when getting on the bus and scan out when stepping off. After getting back to Heerlen station and then by car back to the hotel we were ready for a drink on the terrace of TerWorm. I had a beer and wanted to have some Limburgse Vlaai to go along with it but unfortunately they had run out. After the drink it was time to get refreshed and head for dinner in Heerlen centre.