Ride from Maaskantje to ʼs-Hertogenbosch

This month has a fifth Wednesday, and you know what that means: I have a short extra post for you. I rode from Maaskantje to ʼs-Hertogenbosch. The tiny village of Maaskantje, which has merged with Den Dungen, may seem insignificant, but it is well-known worldwide among fans of absurd and rude humor because of the comedy sketch show “New Kids,” which is set in Maaskantje.

The name sign for the village of Maaskantje, which featured in a renowned comedy sketch show series and two feature films.

This is what Wikipedia tells us:“The series follows the misadventures of a group of young men, who live in the small village of Maaskantje in North Brabant. Maaskantje’s distinctly rustic and pleasant appearance as a traditional village is juxtaposed by the actions of the group, who are antisocial and indulge in the ‘Gabber’ culture. They drink excessively, eat junkfood and ride noisily around the village in a garish Opel Manta.”

The series started in 2001 and became very popular. Two full-length movies, New Kids Turbo and New Kids Nitro, were released in 2010 and 2011 and reached a large international audience.

The cycle path from Maaskantje to Sint-Michielsgestel has a very old-fashioned appearance.

This unnecessary cycling roundabout is still present at the edge of Sint-Michielsgestel. I wrote about this folly when it opened in 2015. At least the tight corners have been corrected, and the walls are now adorned with murals.

The village was overwhelmed with attention from international fans. However, there was really nothing there that appeared in the series and films, apart from one fast food joint and the village name sign. The sign was frequently stolen, but on the day I filmed, it was there. Perhaps enough time had passed for the attention to decrease.

The route from Sint-Michielsgestel is mostly on a 60 km/h road shared with local traffic. However, the main road is elsewhere (here to the right), and there is a modal filter on this road. This makes the traffic volume so low that it is an adequate route. Here we enter ʼs-Hertogenbosch, the capital of the province of Brabant. The provincial government is housed in the tall building to the right, which incidentally was designed by architect Maaskant. That name probably has nothing to do with the village of Maaskantje.

Only inside ʼs-Hertogenbosch there was finally some red asphalt on cycle paths.

The cathedral of ʼs-Hertogenbosch, Sint Jan, is where I ended this short ride.

Recently, there was some renewed attention for Maaskantje! One of the many typical words used in New Kids made it into the Dutch entry for Eurovision this year. In the video of the song “Europapa” by Joost Klein, one of the original cast members of New Kids can be seen and heard saying, “Welkom in Europa, jonguh” (Welcome to Europe, dude). Unfortunately, Joost Klein was disqualified just hours before the final show. That afternoon, I filmed this ride.

My video for this week: a ride from Maaskantje to ʼs-Hertogenbosch.

New Kids Turbo Trailer: “Nobody touches Maaskantje”. Perhaps good that the worst expletive was not translated…