This TTT starts in North Brabant. Vierlingsbeek is not far from the Maas, the borders with Limburg and Germany. But if you look at the map, nothing in Limburg is far away from the Maas or the national borders. How do you map out a motorcycle route on the most beautiful roads in this small area? Then you call in the help of a professional. Enter Jos Bosch, who has been delighting readers and editors of this motorcycle magazine with routes in his home area of Limburg for a quarter of a century.

In doing so, he always manages to avoid traffic jams and through roads. So we cross the A73 via the Vierlingsbeekseweg and arrive in Overloon. 'War belongs in the museum' is the motto of the War Museum, which focuses primarily on the history of the Second World War in the Netherlands. The former battlefield of Overloon is home to the largest and oldest war museum on the Second World War in Western Europe. Some 20,000 m² of war history, including more than 180 military vehicles. Unfortunately, the museum motto is not true everywhere outside our national borders. Chapels and crosses can be found along the road in Limburg. Limburg has been Catholic since Roman times. But the iconoclasm and religious wars that ravaged the rest of the Netherlands passed Limburg by. The Second World War also largely passed the village of Merselo by and out of gratitude for that, the people of Merselo built the beautiful Maria chapel that our route passes. Maria is not only depicted here as the mother of Jesus, but as the queen of all people. She stands on a hemisphere representing the world and with her foot she tramples a snake, the symbol of evil.

Via Merselo you drive to America, which is a short distance on a Limburg and Dutch scale. The place name sign says '”hoije wa!', which means 'see you later!' Also in terms of language, Limburg has different
borders are never far away. The local dialects connect all the surrounding areas, with influences from French and German. Helden follows America. On the Molenweg there is a beautiful building complex that you would rather place in the French Versailles or the German Potsdam, such a beautiful palace castle it is. Via coffee with Limburg pie at Dennenoord in Roggel you arrive in Grathem.
Hey, you probably know that inn! Back in the nineties of the last century, restaurant-café-hall Geraats already appeared on a route that Jos had mapped out. At this home base of MC Grathem, five different motorcycle routes are ready for enthusiasts, on Sundays from May to September. Free of charge! 'Drive safely, discover the world, help each other and make motorcycle friends', is the motto of this friendly Limburg motorcycle club. On the first tour with Jos, quite a few routes were followed, but Jos always manages to surprise with unknown winding roads that make the motorcyclist's heart beat faster. With a clever balance between steering fun, natural beauty and sights along the way.

Parallel to the Maas winding here, you drive via Thorn with its beautiful white houses out of the Netherlands and into Belgium. If Maaseik is still on Belgian soil, in Maasheuvel you are already on Dutch asphalt. Is there an accident
been on that Pater Sangers bridge over the Maas? The railing looks distorted. But no: it is a work of art, called 'Connection between the two Limburgs', something with two pairs of hands holding on to a rope with a
tie a knot in it. Very symbolic, connection instead of separation, across the border, which runs in the middle of the Maas. Jos: 'I like to include parts of Belgium and Germany in my route. Because there
can you at least drive a little further.' Borders? Don't tell the inhabitants of Selfkant anything about borders. From 1949, Selfkant was Dutch territory for fourteen years. But after Germany had dutifully paid the reparations, they got the village back in 1963. At Selfkant, a boulder marks the border between Germany and the Netherlands, as well as the westernmost point of the FRG, according to the text chiselled on this Grenzstein 309B. Despite all the border complications, the good relations between Selfkant and the Maasland continue to exist. The common dialect still connects the inhabitants. Since 1989, the toll booths have been closed and the borders open, but here in Selfkant that doesn't really make any difference. From Selfkant, the narrowest part of the Netherlands, barely five kilometers as the crow flies, runs to the Belgian border at Dilsen-Stokkem. And the German Selfkant has another surprise in store, expertly woven into our route by Jos. Historic steam locomotives and wagons are lovingly restored and waiting for passengers at the little station of Schierwaldenrath. We swing after a short break further over German avenues to Gangelt, where you enter the Netherlands again. You meander past Valkenburg and Simpelveld over narrow and steep roads.
Unlikely that this is in the Netherlands, but it is. Then via a gray border post back into Belgium, past the castle of Sippenaeken. HenriChapelle, Thimister-Clermont, that clearly sounds like
Wallonia.

The Voer region is also marked by the Belgian language border: on bilingual place name signs, opponents of Flemish or Walloon names have traditionally made the letters illegible with paint.
the N608 it is Flemish all over again. Planck, Einde, Schoppen, Schietekamer and Grijzegraaf glide past on the GPS, then you cross the dotted line that welcomes us back to the Netherlands. The corn in the
fields stands tall as bushes in a tropical jungle. Jos: 'You can actually drive a route like this at least four times a year. At least. The landscape looks completely different in every season.'
Formerly with a router roll, now with GPS. The landscape through which Jos leads seems to have changed little in the past 25 years. But two thousand years ago, there were hundreds of Roman villas in Limburg: enormous estates in Mediterranean style, with houses equipped with glass windows and underfloor heating, bathhouses, storage spaces, stables, workshops, ornamental gardens and large arable lands. The Limburg villas provided all residents in the region with
grain. They lived in cities such as Heerlen, Cuijk, Xanten and Cologne. The soldiers along the limes, the northern border of the Roman Empire, were also customers. Grain was traded to the furthest corners of north-west Europe. This happened via the extensive network of Roman (water)ways. When Roman power declined at the end of the third century, the villas were destroyed, burned down and abandoned. Nowadays, there is almost nothing left to see in the Limburg landscape.

We drive around Maastricht in an arc. Maastricht is internationally known for its pleasant terraces on the Vrijthof and the concerts of André Rieu. But in 1673 the city was on the map differently than the French
King Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, carried with him. A drawing by Adam Frans van der Meulen, the campaign painter of the French court, has been preserved. It shows clouds of smoke, trenches and hundreds of soldiers. Behind it beckoned the stronghold of the Netherlands: the city of Maastricht. The siege of Maastricht, personally led by the French king, lasted thirteen days. On 30 June 1673 the city surrendered. One of the
strongest fortresses of Europe fell into French hands. Germans, Romans and French have disappeared from Limburg. What remains are the pristine winding roads that Jos Bosch always manages to capture in a new tour.
At the Geulhemermolen in Berg en Terblijt another memorable motorcycle ride comes to an end. Thanks Jos, see you next time.