west of Nuenen the Dommel is joined by the Kleine Dommel. Just south of Son the Dommel meets the Wilhelmina Canal. Here is it led through culverts that dive below the Canal. The Dommel then appears again on the other side. From Son to Boxtel The stretch from Son en Breugel to Vught is primarily rural. The most original part and natural state of the Dommel can be found between Eindhoven and Boxtel. Here, the Dommel still has many of its original winds and meanders, though many have also been lost. The stretch forms a cultural-historical and valuable landscape area that is part of the Het Groene Woud. This is a National Landscape situated between Eindhoven, Tilburg and 's-Hertogenbosch. The Moerkuilen is a heath area with a mere few kilometres east of Sint-Oedenrode. It is actually a very old meander of the Dommel. Since the Last Glacial Period, it has grown closed with peat, and is now known as the Moerkuilen. The many ponds in the area have been formed by excavating peat. Just west of the Moerkuilen is the Dommelbeemden area, which is a natural monument. It (used to) consist of regularly flooded low-lying meadows used to grow hay, and higher situated "bolakkers" (high fields), where cereals were cultivated. The aim of the natural monument is to restore part of this situation. Boxtel to 's-Hertogenbosch About two kilometers before reaching the center of Boxtel town, the Afwateringskanaal Boxtel diverts from the Dommel. It was dug by hand in 1933–1936 in order to prevent flooding in Boxtel. It cut off a bend of the Dommel of about 4 km that flowed through Boxtel. The Boxtel 'arm' then received only little water till the waterschap reverted the situation in 2013. Now the Dommel bed is again the primary course of the Dommel in Boxtel, and the Afwateringskanaal Boxtel is only used at high water. An unexpected effect of the Afwateringskanaal is that it allows canoes to make a round trip in Boxtel, the so-called 'Rondje Boxtel'. Boxtel is traditionally said to be the point till which the Dommel is navigable. However, navigability is a highly contextual subject. In the context of current commercial navigation the size of the ships that the Dommel can handle is much too small to make shipping economically viable. Before the introduction of the steam engine however, river ships were much smaller, and navigation was economically viable