The castles of Gors-Opleeuw

Appointment at the St. Martin's Church in Gors-Opleeuw. The tower is Gothic, the nave classicist. Knight Godefri Lewis gave the village its name. With four castles, the village still bears witness to medieval greatness.

1. Keep the park and castle of Gors on your left and turn into the Mellenstraat. The castle, also called Beaufort Castle, has a 17th century core and was largely rebuilt in empire style around 1820. Follow the Mellestraat to the end. Our walk here turns left, but if you like castles, you can turn right and then immediately walk left into bellevue street. After 500 m you are in front of the white, classicist Bellevue castle, originally a hunting pavilion of the castle of Opleeuw. All roads to the Bellevue forest are private roads and so you have to go back and turn right at the end of the Bellevuestraat. You walk through a beautiful agricultural landscape. The road ripples gently and turns into a hollow road. Ignore the street Leeuwenveld on the left and follow the rising Diepestraat, which turns into the Opleeuwstraat. After a gentle climb, turn right into Haagsmeerstraat. You descend a long, straight road, with a beautiful panorama in front of you. Leave the Elleboogstraat and a yellow farm behind and descend to the Oude Winning, an impressive white farm.
2. Walk on, cross a stream and step past castle farm and castle Haagsmeer. Castle and farm – one complex – are located in an English park. Keep following the asphalt road until you reach the Borgloon–Genk road. Follow this fairly busy road on the bike path separated from the roadway to the left. After 700 m take the exit to Kerniel on the right. Ignore the road to Wellen on the right and continue walking on the rural road. You cross a stream and the street begins to rise. Walk on until you can just past a chapel from 1908 (left) and the Tapstraat (right), opposite house number 47, into a road on the left. Beyond the houses, the asphalt turns into an unpaved, often very muddy road. You step under the busy Borgloon–Genk track and at the crossroads, just past the bridge, you walk straight ahead. You are now walking between orchards and fields. Follow the field road straight ahead as much as possible until you reach a T, just before a meadow. Turn right here and follow the path to the asphalt road. You are now standing in front of an orchard. Those who are tired can rest on a rest bench. You turn left, with the orchard on your right and a beautiful panorama on your left. The road rises gently.
3. When the road descends again, take the first street on the right: the Mettekovenstraat. On the right, on a sloping meadow, is a beautiful, white chapel. Step further to the idyllic, white castle of Opleeuw. The current, classicist castle is only a third of the original castle. The year 1874 in the left façade refers to a renovation. Continue straight ahead, on the narrow asphalt road between the meadows. On the left you see a walled orchard and a little further the church tower and the castle of Gors. At the end of this beautiful path you turn left and walk through the Hoogstraat to the St. Martin's Church. The tower is Gothic, the nave classicist, transept and choir date from the beginning of the century. The interior is mainly baroque. There is a whole series of interesting statues of saints. Also note the old water pump, bought in 1905 from the Tonger city council. Due to the completion of the water pipe, the Ambiorix city no longer needed pumps.