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Spinola cycle route in North Breda

Ramparts, redoubts and defensive works: this cycle route follows the military footsteps of the Spanish commander Ambrogio Spinola for 33 kilometres.

( 2 hour 45 minutes ) 33 km

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This cycle route can be described as a 33-kilometre-long route that takes you on your bicycle through the military history of the Siege of Breda. Things looked very different four hundred years ago. The city was occupied by the Spanish, under the leadership of no one less than military strategist Ambrogio Spinola. Breda was completely cut off from the outside world. In some spots the defensive works are still visible in the landscape. Other times you will have to put your imagination to work. This is what makes it extra special: an innocent patch of grassland or the quiet, babbling water of the Mark river turns out to be part of a scene of battle in the past.

This cycling tour ensures an enjoyable combinatio…

This cycle route can be described as a 33-kilometre-long route that takes you on your bicycle through the military history of the Siege of Breda. Things looked very different four hundred years ago. The city was occupied by the Spanish, under the leadership of no one less than military strategist Ambrogio Spinola. Breda was completely cut off from the outside world. In some spots the defensive works are still visible in the landscape. Other times you will have to put your imagination to work. This is what makes it extra special: an innocent patch of grassland or the quiet, babbling water of the Mark river turns out to be part of a scene of battle in the past.

This cycling tour ensures an enjoyable combination of historic facts in beautiful varied surroundings. In addition to the built-up area, you cycle along the Mark river for a while and cross the Vrachelse Heide, only to return to the buzz of the city, feeling relaxed and having gained a richer view of the history of Breda.

Two different routes take you on a cycling tour in a northern or southern direction through the eventful history of Breda. You travel through the amazing historic city and cycle through the green surroundings. You learn about army camps, defensive works and resistance actions, some of which later formed the basis for the Zuiderwaterlinie (Southern Water Defence Line). Some traces are still present in the landscape here and there.

In Breda you will encounter lances in various colours. The blue lances mark contra-vallation – the part of the defensive line around Breda with which the Spanish intended to prevent the Breda natives from escaping the city. The cognac-coloured lances represent circum-vallation – the part of the line that was to keep State soldiers out of the city. The lances of the former army camps are red.

The Spanish army commander Spinola left an indelible impression behind
A country involved in a battle for independence. More than four hundred years ago, that was the case here in the Netherlands. The ‘States’ fought the Spanish for that purpose. And the Spanish fought back under the leadership of Ambrogio Spinola. They occupied various cities, but the most famous perhaps is Breda. This city was important because of its strategic location. It was a major asset for the Spanish with its city walls, canals and fortifications. Furthermore, this was the city of the Nassaus, the same family as William of Orange (the leader of the resistance). Occupying Breda therefore also felt like a moral victory.

In 1624 and 1625 the city was cut off from the outside world completely by two heavily guarded defensive lines for eleven long months. Various army camps were based around those lines, at location such as Gageldonk Castle and Ginnekenmarkt. The States attempted to break the defence from the outside. They raided transport wagons that were to provide the army camps with supplies, and they planned focused attacks on army units and defensive lines. Breda natives carried out resistance actions from the inside. A smart saboteur pretended to be someone who could repair the roof of the church near Ginnekenmarkt – a food storage facility for the Spanish – and set the church on fire.
The resistance actions were to no avail. After eleven months there was so little food in the occupied city that the Breda natives were forced to surrender. The climax, where Breda’s military governor Justinus of Nassau hands over the key to the city to the Spanish warlord Ambrogio Spinola, has been immortalised in the famous painting ‘The Surrender of Breda’ (‘La rendición de Breda’) by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez.

And the rest is history. Well, not all of it. Because a part of the mostly temporary Spanish defensive works served as a basis for the western part of the Zuiderwaterlinie some 75 years later. Thus Spinola became an inseparable component of Dutch fortress history – something that he himself certainly had not foreseen.

The Zuiderwaterlinie
The Zuiderwaterlinie is the oldest, longest and most used of all of the Dutch water defence lines. It runs from Bergen op Zoom all the way to Grave and is a unique chain of 11 Brabant fortified cities, linked through the typical Dutch use of water as a defence. Part of the Zuiderwaterlinie is built on older, existent defensive works that were used during the Siege of Breda. This caused the mostly temporary defensive works of the Spanish army commander Spinola to become permanent parts of Dutch fortified history. Check here for an overview of all cycle and hiking routes and to read more about the Zuiderwaterlinie.

Signposting

Simply follow the signs and cycle along the route from one numbered junction to the next.

Hotline routes
Hotline routes
If there is something wrong on the route, report it here.

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Sights on this route

Starting point:

Kasteelplein
4811 Breda

Kasteel van Breda

Breda Castle was once the ancestral home of the Nassaus, the ancestors of our royal family. Because of the important international role of the Nassaus, the Castle was an important place in Europe during the 15th to 17th centuries.

BAAI Breda

There is a beautiful terrace alongside the water at the location where the Mark river enters Breda. BAAI is the place to enjoy delicious wines and many various Breda beers. But what is most striking is how you immediately experience that wonderful holiday feeling here.

Former Gageldonk Castle | Current Hooghuis

A medieval gate tower with buildings on both sides. It creates a remarkable sight, right in the middle of a modern Breda neighborhood.

Rietdijk

The defensive line also ran past the very spot where you are now standing.

Reconstructed Redoubt Buitendijks Slangwijk

Researchers discovered a redoubt measuring forty by forty meters, right next to the Mark River and opposite the Little Redoubt in Terheijden.

Little Redoubt Terheijden

It looks so peaceful now: the Little Redoubt Terheijden. And yet, heavy fighting once took place around this spot.

Spinola Redoubt

Between Terheijden and Breda lies the Spinola Redoubt, also known as the Grote Schans.

Redoubts at the Zwarte Dijk

These redoubts were used as shelters for soldiers guarding the lines.

Golden Lance | Site of the Key Handover

Anyone who has ever visited the Prado Museum in Madrid may have seen the painting in real life: The Surrender of Breda (La rendición de Breda) by the Spanish artist Diego Velázquez.

End point:

Kasteelplein
4811 Breda

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Spinola cycle route in North Breda

Signposting

Signposting

Hotline routes