Along the Merkem canals

Appointment at the parking (V) in the 19de Liniestraat in Merkem. This is where the Three Canal Walking Route starts, which is also included in our walk. Keep the Snoephuis on your left and the castle domain of Merkem on your right and at the end of the street walk straight on a wide gravel road to the Martjevaart. Turn left and then right over Kleine Cayenne bridge 1. • Continue walking along a tiled path between the fields and after a left-right nod past a pig farm to the Oostpoeselstraat. Follow it to the left and then turn right onto the first road. With this asphalt road, turn right and then left around an old transformation tower until the T-junction on Westpoeselstraat. Turn right, through the open countryside to the Ypres-Yser canal. • Follow the canal to the right and cross the Grote Cayenne bridge 2 further on. The Martjevaart flows under the bridge into the Ypres-Yser canal. A little further on you come to the Three Canal Bridge. Walk underneath and you will arrive at visitor center De Boot. This educational visitor center is housed in the Isera, a former barge from the 20s of the last century. • During The Great War there was heavy fighting here for the Three Canal Bridge 3. By the end of 1914, the Belgian army had entrenched itself behind the Yser and ypreslee. A German attack was repulsed, but many Zouaves of the French army were captured. Two days later they were used by the Germans as a living shield in another attempt to capture the bridge. • If you want to stick to the Three Canals Walk, make a right turn here. • Those who opt for the big walk, walk further along the canal until it flows into the IJzer just before the Knokkebrug 4. The bridge was named after the former fort De Knocke, built in the 16th century by the Spaniards. You can read all about it in the info hut at the picnic area next to the bridge. • Follow the gravel road and walk away from the Yser. Then take the first road on the right: Westbroekstraat. You now step over pebbles through the beautiful trouser landscape with beautiful views. During WWI this area was flooded. • Cross a stream and follow the road to the right. You now continue walking between the meadows. From the first farm, the Westbroekstraat is paved. Don't worry about side roads and keep walking straight between fields, meadows and farms until you reach a triangular square 5 in Luigem, with junction 63 of the cycle route network. • Turn right here and follow the lane to the end of the square. Continue straight on the Drie Grachtenstraat. This street is higher than the rest of the landscape and formed the Luigem peninsula together with Luigem during WWI. Three Grachten, Luigem and Merkem were part of the German rest sector in the period 1915-1917. The Drie Grachtenstraat was the only way between the water to get to the Drie Grachtenbrug. You're walking on it now, too. It is not the most pleasant road to walk on, but it is historic. During WWI the road was alternately under the guns of the French or the Germans! • Do not climb the Three Canal Bridge, but go right along it until you reach the Ypres-Yser canal. Here you start the remaining part of the Three Canals Walk. Walk under the bridge and continue to the Great Cayenne Bridge. • Do not cross them, but take the wide gravel road, to the left of the Martjevaart. You are now walking on the Ketsedijk. On the right, on the other bank, is a small electricity plant of Electrabel. Further on, the Ketsedijk is lined with trees. Just before the Kleine Cayenne bridge turn left. You still know this road. 500 m further you are back at the starting point.