Roughly, the Flemish region is flat, so there is nothing which can be compared to hillwalking
If you fly over Flanders from the center of Belgium towards the coast, you'll notice a transition from dense construction with green in-between (midland), to a wider agricultural landscape (near the coast). That gives you a first hint on what to expect if you go visiting places in Flanders.
Let me mention the Flemish cities which I believe are worth a visit:
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Antwerp: bigger but cozy city;
their website-
Ghent: a bit smaller, more charged with history;
their website-
Bruges: even smaller, a lot more touristic;
their website-
Ypres: small city, focus on its history during WW1;
their websiteThere are of course a few other cities with their own tales, but as said I list my own preferences.
As a consequence of the ever-increasing population and hence construction, a lot of green areas disappeared and many more were threatened. Luckily there's an NGO called "Natuurpunt" which does a wonderful job. From their website:
Natuurpunt is the largest Belgian NGO working on the protection of nature. The long term protection of important habitats, species and landscapes is their main goal. To achieve this the organisation is protecting the remaining nature in Flanders through buying and managing land, studying species and habitats, by raising awareness and introducing educational programs for a general and specific public and lobbying local and regional governments.
When I go walking, I prefer tracks (routes) with as much countryside/unpaved as possible. A few remaining large forests, and an increasing number of natural reserves owned by Natuurpunt certainly help to achieve that. Moreover, even if it is not one of their explicit goals, Natuurpunt preserves the historical and architectural values located on the land they own. Often those constitute an additional value for a walk. In the paragraphs here-below I mention a few interesting sources for walk(er)s in Flanders, I refer some tracks that I find particularly pleasant walks, and I end with a concrete suggestion for a short stay axed around the theme "
World War One".
Sources for nice walks in Flanders (such a pity that most are published only in Dutch):
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the GR paths or long distance paths (they exist for walkers and for bikers) are exactly what their name suggests. You could compare them to for example The Pennine Way, Hadrian's Wall, etc. Nonetheless, the Belgian long distance paths often connect to paths in the neighbouring countries. A well-known example is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James . I sometimes walk a (one-day) part of such a long distance path. They use a mix of paved and unpaved paths, and they often go through villages where you can buy provisions.
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circular walks, 20 to 25 km, making as much use as possible of GR paths. These walks are published in printed topoguides, one topoguide per Belgian province. The satnav tracks are downloadable (for free) from the website. I have walked several of these, they are recommendable - of course you have to select
what you like most from their offer.
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a variation on the above: instead of circular walks, these are line-walks starting and ending near a train station.
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originele wandelingen (by Gert Sonck) deserves a statue. The walks are very well documented, make very little use of paved paths, and some contain parts outside any paths, where you have to use orientation techniques. As said before, those parts are not guaranteed to be "
legally allowed", but I have never gotten into trouble when walking them. In fact, I have never encountered anyone else on those parts. Maybe not that many compatriots like this type of walk.
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and then there is this, also available as app on iPhone and Android; handy if you want to go for a walk but had no time to prepare it
Examples of walks in the Flemish region that I like (or:
what to expect if I suggested it):
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A circular walk based on groteroutepaden:
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the track +
the pics-
A walk by Gert Sonck near the BE/NL border:
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the description +
the track +
the picsBrand-new walks in the making:
+ no tracks available yet, they are still being adjusted
+
pics #1 +
pics #2My suggestion for a short stay in Flanders is inspired by Callum's interest for WW1 and WW2. That interest triggers me to suggest Ypres. A few things to mention:
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The Last Post, every evening at 20:00 at the Menin Gate -- must do !
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In Flanders Fields Museum -- if you visit just one museum on WW1, this should be the one
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Flanders Fields route by car -- handy if:
+ you want to visit several sites in one day
+ the weather is bad
+ you want to get an overview of the different "
districts" that existed here during WW1
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Circular walk from groteroutepaden with some WW1 history:
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http://www.groteroutepaden.be/item.php?itemno=1531&lang=NL-
A shorter walk, but specifically focused on WW1 -- I have not done it but this would be my choice:
+
the track +
the pics + the walk exists of two loops, one through the German and one through the British sector
+ visiting several points that were of strategical importance
+ many of these points are documented in a booklet
+ I have the EN version of the booklet (
PM me if you want to know more about it)
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A station-to-station walk giving an impression of the littoral:
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http://nl.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=6390265