Berg ten Houte

This country road is located parallel to Berg ten Houte which is known by many cyclists as one of the many slopes in the region.
Berg ten Houte is a naughty climb that was included nine times in the Tour of Flanders between 1982 and 1990. The slope was also part of the E3 Harelbeke, most recently in 2013.
The municipality of Maarkedal had the Berg ten Houte slope in Schorisse rebuilt with cobblestones in spring 2018. According to the council member of Public Works, Frederik Van Nieuwenhuyze, the Berg ten Houte is now the worst road of the municipality. "The tendering procedure will take place in early July. Since we are talking about a beautiful slope in Maarkedal, we have chosen to have cobblestones laid again in the street bed.
The municipality invests 350,000 euros to rebuild one kilometre of the street. On the sloping part of the hill comes a 300 metre cobblestone strip.
The Berg ten Houte is one of the oldest' stone roads' in the Flemish Ardennes. Ever since Roman times this has been a connection between Wallonia and the Valley of the Schelde north of Maarkedal. In view of the slope of Berg ten Houte, there were also frequent landslides." According to Van Nieuwenhuyze, "The cobblestone construction will make it easier to repair this problem.
"We will lay sand piles in the ground to ensure that the pressure between the different clay layers is reduced. This reduces the risk of landslides,"explains Van Nieuwenhuyze. There is also a solution for the canal next to the Tenhoutestraat. The water is now flowing too fast there, which weakens the roadbed.
"We will use bulkheads to create a waterfall system so that the water flows less quickly and we will strengthen the canal with gabions,"says the ships.
"Rebuild will also add value to tourism and sport. Perhaps after the reconstruction, the Berg ten Houte might be included in the course of the Tour of Flanders.
In Maarkedal there are more cobble-ways that can use a refreshment, but those works take longer to wait. The Stationsberg, Steenbeekdries and Mariaborre zone will be tackled in 2019, the Eikenberg and Donderij will only be refurbished in 2020. "That is because these dossiers are about protected cobblestone roads. So we have to wait for the subsidy planning of the Flemish government,"says Mayor Joris Nachtergaele.

Willem Vandenameele