Through the Assebroekse Meersen to the Beverhoutsveld

On this walk you combine the marshy meadows of the Assebroekse Meersen with the poplar and oak lanes of the Beverhoutsveld. You will get unpaved, sometimes wet roads and get acquainted with three projects of the Regional Landscape Houtland (RLH). With good walking shoes or boots on, you start at the Pastoor Verhaegheplein in Ver-Assebroek (V). With your back to the pilgrimage church, turn left. At the Leenhof there is a sign with the inscription 'Popular devotion in a green frame' and striking circles on the map! These circles were discovered through aerial photography. Cross the Kerkdreef. You will arrive at an information board of the Flemish nature reserve Assebroekse Meersen 1 . On a pole of cycle junction 73, a white-red sticker makes it clear that this is the Grote Routepad 129 BruggeDinant. This signage is your guide to the furthest point! On the right, it is teeming with waterfowl. Where 81 points straight ahead, you choose right. You cross a watercourse, the Sint-Tudoledeke, and you turn left. Further on, the Hoofdsloot flows below you and you arrive at the connection with the Beverhoutsveld 2. An orientation table, placed there by, among others, the RLH, shows that here the Van Praetbeek flows into the Hoofdsloot and that a fish spawning place has been built. Follow the white-red GRstrepen along the Hoofdsloot and at a brick culvert you turn right, straight on until you see the green-white sign of the Bootsdreef on an asphalt road. Many lanes of the Beverhoutsveld are signposted. You walk straight ahead, the grass path bends to the left and on a T you turn right. Ignore a left turn and turn left at the first intersection. In front of you is the church of Oedelem. At the intersection, turn right, join the Beverhoutsveld hiking trail, and you reach a concrete two-lane road. You cross it and you continue via the Langedreef. The Beverhoutsveldpad turns left, but you remain faithful to the red and white GR marking until the next lane on the right. There you thank the initiators of the GR129 and you turn right like the mountain bikers. At an intersection, walk straight ahead. On mailbox no. 24 is a sign of the RLH 3 . Behind a young thorn hedge grows a standard orchard with old fruit tree species. At the neighbors in 22 turn right. On the left you will notice a glimpse of the Blue Castle. You are back on the Beverhoutsveld hiking trail and at the Zuiddambeek the signage invites you to turn right, but you walk straight ahead. On the concrete two-lane road you come from the Ravenbosstraat. You turn left and immediately right into the Beverhoutstraat. You arrive at the house with the beautiful name 't Lekkertje, turn right and at the level of the stables you choose the drive on the right. You take the first lane on the left and end up on an asphalt road. In front of you is the Groot Heetdreef, behind you the Peendreef and you walk left until you reach the Veldkapel, an icon of the Beverhoutsveld 4. The RLH has decorated the area with picnic benches, among other things. Turn right into Beverhoutstraat. Where 72 points straight ahead, take the drive on the right and immediately choose the first lane on the left, the Groot Heetdreef. At the intersection you turn right. The road splits and you opt for the left. You will again come to the well-known orientation table 2 . Now you turn left twice and step between plots of pasture, parallel to the Hoofdsloot on the right. At a farm you end up with pebbles with gravel. Here you turn right, cross the Hoofdsloot and from the Sint-Trudoledeke you are back in civilization. You can see on the right how the watercourse makes a bend in the landscape, just past the mysterious circles. This way you will end up back at your starting point.