Jeker

Kanne, the marl village is only the size of a handkerchief. The pearl of the Jeker Valley is what border tourists call it. Kanne looks white, and that has everything to do with the white marl stone from which houses were built. It is almost as white as the whitest of the white villages, nearby Thorn. The chalk or marl layers that are still eagerly mined in this part of Haspengouw, think of the cement industry, date back to the Cretaceous period, 125 to 60 million years ago. The mining was initiated by the Romans; all sorts of Roman buildings were constructed from marl stone. Later, churches, houses, and castles were built with the white-yellow marl stone, also in Kanne. The marl caves look quite impressive: a real maze of sixty hectares of corridors and galleries, sometimes up to five meters wide and ten meters high. Partly, they are used for mushroom cultivation, but you can also visit the Fossil Museum there, under guidance.

Lannoo