"There is a late swan on the foundling"

This sentence from the poem 'Unconscious evening' by Paul Van Ostaijen evokes the image of a swan on a 'deck' by a pond or over a stream. A vondel was used to designate a simple bridge over a stream, often only a few planks wide.

When we look at historical maps, we can clearly see a bridge on the Ferraris map from the end of the 18th century. On the Vandermaelen map, halfway through the 19th century, this is no longer so clear and on the map of 1873 nothing can be seen anymore. On the map of 1904 there seems to be a narrow bridge that on the map of 1939 became a large bridge, probably built when the connection between Tremelo and Werchter was made via the track.

Nearby you can see a poetry bench and a plaque that informs us about the 'big loach'. The last mention of this rare dates back to 50 years ago. It owes its name to the fact that it dives into the mud in the event of disaster. As soon as you grab it, it lets out whistling winds. Hence his other name: 'flute eel'.

Jan Rymenams