Zwalm, the valley of the Gang of Jan de Lichte

An ideal starting point for our first introduction to the Zwalm valley is the village of Velzeke. One of the 50 most beautiful villages in Flanders and the village where Jan de Lichte found his parental home. De Lichte, a Flemish 'Robin Hood' from the 18th century, which has become more famous thanks to VTM. He was the gang leader of a gang of criminals, driven by hunger and poverty, who actually mainly affected the common man with theft and eventually some murders. So a bit different from the fiction series or novel...

A character that makes us have a nice hiking trail in this Flemish Ardennes. The Jan de Lichtepad and the adjacent Molenbeek take us through this soggy piece of nature reserve - Middenloop Zwalm. After the Bertelbos we arrive at the next guide in our 'Vl'-Ardennes walk. The Zwalm, a 14 kilometer long tributary of the Scheldt, which forms one of the most important watercourses of the Flemish Ardennes.

Not only was this beautiful region named after this river, the 'new' merged municipality of Zwalm has also formed a composition of boroughs since 1977; Beerlegem, Dikkele, Hundelgem, Meilegem, Munkzwalm, Nederzwalm-Hermelgem, Paulatem, Roborst, Rozebeke, Sint-Blasius-Boekel, Sint-Denijs-Boekel and Sint-Maria-Latem.

We continue to follow this (for Flanders) relief-rich water flow, which was used by countless water mills in the past. On our way we also come across some such as the Zwalmmolen, the Ijzerkotmolen & the Ter Biestmolen. We reach the village center Nederzwalm and a little further the Upper Scheldt.

Just follow this stately river to go via Blarewater, an old meander of the Scheldt, again towards a beautiful valley of the Zwalm region. The Munkbosbeek or Stampkotbeek and the forest of Castle Ten Bieze which we follow to the next beautiful village on our route.

Just like Velzeke, but also Roborst, the Zwalmse Dikkele has been selected as one of the 50 most beautiful villages in Flanders. A village center that seems to have stood still since the beginning of the 20th century.

The last 3km we end via a car-free street through this rural landscape to arrive again in Velzeke-Ruddershove in a loop walk of almost 25km.