Weather spells in the lax

To the starting point of this walk you can follow the arrows from the Turnhout-Ravels road to Equestrian Center 't Groenhof (V) in Oud-Turnhout, where you can park and use something in the tavern. You can set your GPS to 'Oud-Turnhout, De Laks 11'. With 't Groenhof on your right, you step past the start sign of walk De Laks and ignore the entrance to the former catering business Burcht Hertog Jan on the left. The name 'Laks' is not immediately clear, but could come from 'laak', an older word for stream. You immediately step into a beautiful, unpaved drive. Follow it until the road to the right bend and take the narrow path through the grove to the canal dike on the left. Here you will immediately find the first of the twelve weather spells, which were added to walk De Laks. They are a tribute to Paul van Zummeren, who lived in Oud-Turnhout until his death in 2002. He was a journalist, teacher, conductor, composer, radio worker and connoisseur of Flemish and Dutch folklore and together with his wife collected about 19,000 weather proverbs and 35,000 folk wisdom. "If the frost doesn't want to come in January, she'll definitely show up in April." With this folk wisdom in mind, follow the Schoten-Turnhout-Dessel canal to the right for 2 km. Here you can enjoy the tranquility of the water and the majestic trees on the picturesque dirt bank, so you won't be bothered by cyclists. They rush past on the other side along the paved towpath. At a picnic area 1 you leave the canal and walk past a March weather spell and a cattle farm on the Lage Mierdse Weg, a quiet asphalt road. At the first intersection, with a road on the right that is also called the Lage Mierdse Weg, you walk straight ahead and at the next quadrangle you turn right. You now walk on the Kievitvenweg, a blissful dirt road between meadows and forest strips. The signs with weather spells provide a pleasant change. There is one for each month and they are neatly ordered, so that after the walk you have gone through a whole year, as it were. You can always test these folk wisdoms for their truth afterwards... To the left of this relaxing dirt road is the nature reserve De Liereman. It is worthwhile to come back later to visit the nature reserve separately. Don't worry about side roads and keep walking straight until you pass a large puddle 2 with a wide bend. You have to pay attention, because he is half hidden in a bush. Past this puddle you turn right into the drive. 'Come in September plumes to the reeds, remember: 'it's late summer, and enjoy.', it reads on the corner. Continue walking through the avenue with beech and native oak, cross the Lage Mierdse Weg again. On the left in the distance you can see the white farms Vossenpijp and Brouwersheide. Continue to the T-junction. Turn left here. You now walk on the Hoge Mierdse Weg and enjoy the tranquility, while you step on a wide gravel road through the forest. When you come out of the forest, you step over asphalt. On the left is a farm with two houses with villa allure. Opposite these houses you take the forest road on the right. You are already in November, you can deduce that from the weather proverb 'Keep the trees their leaves long, be afraid of a long winter.' The end of the walk can therefore not be far off. You walk through the forest, cross the Laksloop and when you come out of the forest, you walk between the meadows to a crossroads with a grass path right in front of you. Turn right here and then turn left with the asphalt road. Past the bend and a huge strawberry farm, take the dirt road on the right. At the end you step next to an orchard and at the T-junction with a dead end on the right you turn left. Continue walking on the asphalt road and turn right until you reach your starting point.