Rural Gooik

We walk in "the pearl of Pajottenland", Gooik. Not only known for its Gooikoorts folk music festival and musical mosaic, the Impulse Center for folk and jazz, but also for its tranquility and natural beauty. As soon as you leave the busiest roads, you will find yourself in a rural and hilly landscape where, on a sunny day, you will fully enjoy the beautiful landscape of Pajotse with its hollow roads, mills, farms, fields and meadows. In the end, it's a bit of a climb.

1. With Gooik's Sint-Niklaaskerk in the back, you descend between the De Vrede café and the De Groene Poort to the junction. Follow the Dorpsstraat on the right, pass the folk café De Cam, also a community centre and museum of ancient folk musical instruments. In the bend, ignore a dead end street on the left and continue until the fork. Turn left onto Lindestraat and immediately ignore Groebbestraat on the right. You leave the village and pass the guest house Het Hof van Petronilla. At the junction with Rozenbroekstraat, you continue to follow Lindestraat straight. You cross the hamlet with the SK Gooik football field on the left. Don't worry about side roads and turn left at the fork of the farm Hof ten Berg and immediately after right into Letterbeekstraat. You walk on a narrow paved road, which winds through a beautiful prairie landscape. Between the loose buildings of the hamlet of Strijland, you ignore a dead end street on the left in a bend and at the end of the Letterbeekstraat you follow the Kindekensstraat on the right to the cross with rest bench. Turn left into the cul-de-sac. Where it turns left, take the narrow path diagonally to the right between two meadows. Further on, you walk along the Molenbeek, which you cross twice by narrow bridges. The path ends in a small farm. Take a gravel road on the right and enjoy the beautiful scenery of Pajotse. At the end of the dirt road, follow Terhagenstraat on the right. You descend between the fields to the Molenbeek. Just opposite there is a chapel that belongs to a renovated farmhouse. After the bend, you pass the Terhaegen watermill. The wheel has disappeared, but the mill house from 1732 is well preserved. On the T, follow Kroonstraat on the right. Leave the Gotestraat and climb gently on a narrow paved road, passing a few farms. Ignore the Kelenbergstraat on the right and continue until you reach the triangular square at the intersection with the Drie Egyptenbaan. Cross the road and walk along the square with the two trees. At the fork, choose the Bettestraat on the right. The road becomes hollow for a while. Next, you drive through a prairie landscape with pollard willows and poplars. After a few turns, it climbs steeply.
2. At the end of the Bettestraat on the left on a hill is the beautiful white chapel of the desert (1600). Follow Desert Street on the left. Leave the Neerstraat on the left and turn right at the intersection. You always follow the street of the desert. The narrow asphalt road undulates and winds through the landscape and passes a farm. Where the Five Hamlet hiking trail goes diagonally to the left, you continue to walk straight.
3. You walk along the junction of Den Haas, known for its regional beers and bollebaan, and continue walking along a gravel road to a triangular grove with a crossroads.
4. At the end of the square, you are at a place name sign from Gooik and the gravel road is called Wijngaardbosstraat.
5. On the left, you can walk 1,300 m further to the Hertboommolen, also called Zepposmolen.
6. Our tour continues straight, through the slightly hilly landscape. Past the farm Hof ten Weyngaert, you advance on the asphalt. At the end of the Wijngaardbosstraat you cross a paved road. On the other side, you choose the hollow descending road on the right. Turn right onto the T, until you reach the Drie Egyptenbaan. Cross it and follow the Rozenbroekstraat until you can turn left into the Voetweg. Now you can enjoy a very narrow path between meadows, through a grove and between fields.
7. At the highest point, you get a 360° panorama. You pass a country chapel and then descend to Gooik. At the end of the Groebbestraat, you turn left and you are in familiar territory. Now comes a final ascent to church.