Open Monuments Day: St. John's cycling routes pass many opened churches

The weekend of Sept. 14 and 15 is once again the national Heritage Days. This year's theme is "Heritage of routes, networks and connections." A wonderful opportunity to go discover the monuments along one of the four cultural bicycle routes recently developed by the Friends of St. John. Many churches along the bicycle routes are open this monument weekend. An ideal time to go and marvel at our region's wealth of monuments, culture and nature.

Cultural bicycle routes through the Langstraat

The theme of this Open Monuments Weekend is all about moving and connecting, which is a great reason to literally get moving yourself by exploring the opened monuments by bike through one of the four beautiful routes. These routes throughout the Langstraat were recently developed by the Friends of Sint-Jan, starting from Waalwijk-center in each of the four directions. In cooperation with RBT De Langstraat and thanks to many sponsors from our region, the free route brochures are available through the Tourist Information Points in the region. They are also available at the Sint-Jan de Doperkerk in Waalwijk. A digital version of the routes can be downloaded from the website.

The varied routes lead past many churches and monuments in the region over the well-known national cycling network. This makes them real tours of discovery. The bicycle routes are each about 40 km long and can be started in Waalwijk, but if desired also at other places along the route. Now that the famous "80 van de Langstraat" unfortunately will not take place this year, it is still possible for the sporty among us to achieve an achievement by cycling two of the 40 km routes this weekend, and thus complete the 80 kilometers. Admittedly without a glorious finish and without a medal, but the satisfaction will not be less.

Open churches along the cycling routes

During the weekend of September 14 and 15, many monumental churches with an eventful and fascinating history along the four bicycle routes will be open. In addition to St. John the Baptist in Waalwijk, which will be open Saturday and Sunday afternoon, the churches to visit include Kerk aan de Haven (Waalwijk), Nederlands Hervormde Kerk (Sprang), Grote Kerk (Vlijmen), Bartholomeuskerk (Waspik), Hervormde Kerk (Waspik), De Open Hof (Drunen), H.H. Martelaren van Gorcum (Kaatsheuvel), St. Jans Onthoofding (Loon op Zand), Evangelical Lutheran Church (Heusden) and Lambertus Church (Udenhout). On the site www.openmonumentendag.nl you can see the exact opening hours of each church, and find more information about the other participating monuments in the region. Admission to all churches and monuments is free. Volunteers are present everywhere to give you all the information you need. You are cordially invited to get moving this weekend and ride one or two of the cultural-historical Langstraat bicycle routes.