Through the musical forest of Ronse

Meet at the Winston Churchillplein (V) at Ronse station. People who come by car must park in the Joseph Ferrantstraat in a public car park. Leave the parking lot at the back towards the church. To the left of the church is a black fence where you can pass and thus you arrive at the Jean-Baptiste Dekeyserstraat.

Walk down the Stationsstraat and follow them until you can turn right into the Jean-Baptiste Dekeyserstraat. On the Kerkplein, you keep the neo-Gothic Sint-Martinuskerk (1896) on your right, ignore the Charles Vandendoorenstraat on the left and continue to the Zuidstraat. Left. Cross the Oude Vesten and continue walking to the Grote Markt with the town hall and obelisk. Leave the Grote Markt and continue until the fork with the Priesterstraat on the left, which leads to the Kleine Markt. Leave the church of Saint-Hermès on the right and take a walk. At the back of the church, continue left through the Bruulpark. On the right is the textile museum. Next to it is the tourist office. At the end of the Bruulpark, cross the main road N48B and turn right into the Wolvestraat. On your right were the buildings of the De Nieuwe Leie textile factory. It was demolished and replaced by De Ververij, a cultural and recreational center. At the intersection of General Hospital Glorieux, take Dammekensstraat on the right. In the distance you can see the hill with the Muziekbos. That's where you go.

Don't worry about side streets and keep walking straight. When the buildings stop, the road becomes narrower. Diagonal to the left is the Bois Joly, a wet nature reserve, which you can now only visit with a guide. On the right, you can enjoy a beautiful panorama. Leave Kleine Bergkouter on the right and continue to Ommegangstraat at the end. Right. Ignore the Keizerrei on the left, then turn right onto Ter Bergestraat. From now on, you walk part of the pedestrian network of the Flemish Ardennes, towards exit 58. The asphalt turns into a dirt road and you enjoy a beautiful agricultural landscape around you. On the right, you see Renaix. From the first houses you step over the asphalt again and at the end you follow the Savooiestraat to the left for a while, then turn right into the unpaved Wijngaardstraat. The street owes its name to a vineyard that was located on the southern slope of the Muziekbos in the early nineteenth century.

Majestic beech forest
Pass to the left of a house and continue walking along a meadow. Turn with the road on the left and at the end of the meadow take the path on the right, towards the forest. Go up to the railway platform and cross the tracks. Warning: there are no signals! On the other side, you go into the forest and you always walk towards exit 58. You climb along a spacious building. The path can be quite miserable.

Go further up a meadow. Turn right and a little further you will arrive at exit 58. Continue straight, direction exit 35. You now walk along the edge of the forest and have a beautiful view of the Flemish Ardennes on the left, behind the meadow. Retreat into the Muziekbos and follow the hilly path until you reach a wide forest road. Here you are again at junction 58, but it is not the same as it was earlier. The junction is therefore indicated a second time with a pole. Continue straight, direction 35. On the left is the private area of the forest and you will come across a rusty iron gate. You ignore a forest road on the right and pass an information panel about the burial mounds and Geuzentoren (1). When you have reached exit 35, five jumps away where several marked trails pass, choose towards exit 9 You descend through an impressive beech forest and pass a pool with duckweed and a sign with information about the Muziekbos. You have read that beech trees will be cut down to create a more valuable forest. Instead of beech trees, winter linden, mountain ash, hornbeam and maple will be planted. These species allow a rich undergrowth.

A moment of silence at the Lorette Chapel
Skip an exit of the Muziekbos on the left and descend to a picturesque bridge. Cross it and follow the path to the left, along a meadow lined with pollard willows. At the end of the path you arrive at a pebble square, which belongs to a house. Continue on a wide grassy road with two pebble lanes until exit 9 Choose towards exit 32 and go down by a path between two meadows. At the end, turn right until you reach a paved road. Follow it to the left. Ignore the Eksterstraat on the right and admire the Loreto Chapel (2) further. At the end, follow the Kanarieberg on the right. Ignore Ruddersveld on the left and no longer follow the arrows of the walking network. Cross the busy N48 and walk via Schoonboeke past Little France, an SME area. Not pretty, but a necessary connector.

At the end of the Little France, the road narrows and at the T-junction you turn left into the Maagdenstraat until you reach a triangular square. Here you are at the language border (3) . Turn right twice, then cross a pedestrian bridge. By wide stairs, you go down to the old railway line (4) of line 87. Continue to follow it until you reach a brick building and junction 90 of the Flemish Ardennes cycling network at a crossroads. Turn right here and meander between two houses. Turn right at the T-junction. You now have a beautiful view of the surroundings and also see the Little France. Ignore the Boontjesstraat on the right and, just after the house with the number 266, turn left. Leave the Verbrandenbosstraat cul-de-sac and enter the fields directly via the Ter Guchtenstraat. At the end of this beautiful country road, you arrive at the bend of the Ooststraat. Left. Pass under the railway bridge, then climb sturdy stairs to the old railway bed, which you just left. Turn left until you reach Mgr. Beylsstraat. Here you can read on a sign that the railway was used by miners who went to work for the mines of Charleroi, Centre and Borinage.

Follow Mgr. Beylsstraat on the left, ignore Robert Schumanstraat on the right and keep left at the fork. On your left you have fields, on the right loose buildings. At the T-junction, turn left until you reach the busy Elzeelsesteenweg. Cross it carefully and turn right onto the Paterspleintje passing the former monastery of the Friars Minor, which is being converted into social rental apartments, and the Sint-Antoniuskerk. Immediately afterwards you take the street on the left, which has been made car-free with a pole at the Sint-Antoniuskring. At the end, turn right and follow the Aatstraat, without worrying about the side streets, until after a bend at the pedestrian bridge (5) you arrive at the railway. Cross it, enjoy the view of the station and get off on the other side. A few more passes and you're back at the station.