From 't Vossenhol to the Rotte Gaten

A loop walk through rolling fields and majestic forests, some transformed into play forests. We seek out the nicest paths between Flemish Brabant's Bertem and Meerbeek near Leuven. An adventure path above the swamp 'Rotte Gaten' and play forest 't Vossenhol are the highlights for young walkers.

Once again, a beautiful spring day in the weekend with summer temperatures, so the ideal moment to enjoy a lovely piece of nature in the Flemish Brabant Dijleland. Not only does this region have a beautiful piece of nature around its river, but it also offers access to numerous forests such as Meerdalwoud, Heverleebos, and Bertembos. We will explore these forests in a larger walk someday, but today we head to the Oak Forest in Bertem for a recreational walk of 7 km.

The Oak Forest may sound less known to most as play forest 't Vossenhol, but this same forest forms our starting point to the west of Bertembos. Near the Belgocontrol Radar - one of the many radars for the Zaventem airport - you can park in a lot next to this play forest. You can also connect to this walk by train from Erps-Kwerps station, but then you have to add another two kilometers.

We leave the play forest for the end to conclude our journey beautifully and start at the edge of this forest via Buurtweg 5 towards Meerbeek. Some nice paths through the 'Hollander' forest and country roads through this rolling landscape of fields with grains and poppies bring us via Voetweg 30 to the edge of the village of Meerbeek. Since 1977 a part of Kortenberg but already found in documents since 1117. The village owes its name to Meer - pond or water body & -beek - which refers to the current Molenbeek. The Meerbekenaren or 'Papboeren' owe their nickname to the neighboring village Everberg. What started as a nickname due to their annual rice pudding fair grew into a name to be proud of.

We approach the Meerbeek Sint-Antoniuskerk with its Romanesque tower from the 13th century and take a nice path between the cemetery and the primary school towards the marshy Plantsoen Forest - a deciduous forest around the Molenbeek located between Kortenberg, Everberg, and Meerbeek.

Fortunately, the plank path offers easy access to this swamp or marsh 'the Rotte Gaten', located in the east of this Plantsoen Forest. A bit further, you can make some loops to test the various adventure paths, but due to the no-mow month of May, some sections have become inaccessible.

After crossing this swamp via the adventure path 'Rotte Gaten', we arrive at Voetweg 28 through the Schoonaardestraat. At the chapel of Sint-Antonius, we cross the Dorpsstraat to return to unpaved paths via Onze Lieve Heerstraat & Vernageldestraat. However, Our Lord's Street leads you to camping site 'Athena Helios' where you can do everything like on a regular campsite, but without clothing... We take the path next to this naturist camping to get back to the Oak Forest.

When we climb a sunken path towards the hilltop in this Oak Forest - as in our trip in Esneux two weeks ago - we encounter another slow worm in this beautiful forest with majestic trees. This limbless lizard resembles a snake a lot, but is completely harmless and very shy. To my great surprise, this is actually the most common reptile in Belgium and you can encounter them in all provinces.

After about a hundred attempts for a sharp photo, we continue our journey in this forest in Bertem. This municipality, which has now grown to a population of over 10,000 inhabitants, lives up to its name of origin. Berta Heem in Germanic or splendid dwelling - indeed seems like a correct name for this forest-rich area between Brussels and Leuven.

The last kilometer of the walk consists of frolicking in the play meadow and play forest 't Vossenhol. A few concrete tubes through mountains, obstacle course, play huts, a small climbing wall, and a maze offer the ideal reward for a rather tough trek through this beautiful piece of Dijleland in Flemish Brabant.

When we reach the car again, we are all rewarded with an ice cream from a passing ice cream cart, which is delightful on a warm spring day like today.