The slow roads of Kampenhout

As far as slow roads are concerned, Kampenhout can be a model. Five sectors have already been identified and put on detailed leaflets, two more to go. All paths nicely cleaned and signposted. You start on the Gemeenteplein (V), at the protected villa Lucie from 1883. Walk to the left of the church down the Dorpsstraat to the end. There, at the historic eatery 2 Charels - once the local meierij - the first slow road (TW), the Molenvondelweg, leaves. Attention, you immediately end up in a riding school and the footpath swings left, right through it. Along horse pastures you end up on the Geilroedeweg, choose there on the right. After walking for a while, you leave the concrete ribbon on the right, via the TW Zeypewegel. It makes a right-angled turn, then one to the left, to the Zeypestraat. Cross diagonally to the right and enter Nieuwegenstraat. Leave it immediately at the first house on the left, along the TW Haakweg. The field road plunges into the grove of the Molenbeek. At the fork, keep left. Once through the trees you keep walking straight ahead in the Molenkensstraat. At the T with chapel turn right and a little further left into the TW Spuerkenbemtweg. The villa district Wielewaal further on is left on the right. This way you enter the nature reserve of the Weisetterbos. First cross the stream and turn left at the pond. Then choose at the fork on the right. A few hundred meters further you bump into the Leuven-Mechelen canal, popularly known as the Vaart. Turn right onto the towpath. As a slow road avant-la-lettre, this has been a winner for years during sunny weekends, especially with cyclists. You will then arrive at the pleasure port of KampenhoutSas 1, where about twenty boats are moored throughout the year. If you walk through the tunnel on the right before the viaduct, you will arrive at the tourist office and the Chicory Museum. Next to it are the renowned garden auction BRAVA and restaurant Veilinghof. With a bit of luck you will experience the versasing of a boat at the lock. At the same time, the falling water is used for the production of green electricity. You continue to follow the left bank until you notice the sign of the TW Assentveldweg (near the recycling company on the other bank). Just a difficult dike descent, over the footbridge and then left. At the first houses you turn with the hiking trail, again to the left. So a long way along with the high-voltage line, until the path abruptly turns right, towards Mechelsesteenweg. First you make a zigzag on a concrete road, and then take the TW Lindeblok on the left until you reach the (busy!) stone road. On the other side into the Twee Lindenstraat. Straight ahead at the chapel. A few hundred meters past a rustic farm you walk into the TW Kessehaege. Ignore the first branch on the left, walk along the grove until the second exit, the TW Paddesijp, which you turn into. Turn right at the T, turn left at the next exit, until Ter Loonststraat. Walk 100 m to the left, if you want to take a look at the castle Ter Loonst 2 (different years of construction). Otherwise, follow the street to the right, direction Relst. At the T, turn left and walk past the Park School and the park, and then take the TW Procession Road along the park. You turn around the cemetery, between the church of Relst 3 and the castle Van Opstal. At the youth house you cross the street and walk straight on via the concrete road to the next residential area. There you turn right. This way you end up in the Schildhovenstraat, which takes you straight to the Haachtsesteenweg. Cross the stone road and follow 100 m to the left, until past house no. 419 and the pines. Then you leave the stone road via a grass road behind the houses, towards Zeypestraat. Follow it to the left, to dive into the TW Ruisbeekwegel, next to the sports field. Past the grove you walk straight ahead, into the Van Beethovenlaan, towards the village center. At the end of it, the TW Postwegel waits on the left and it knows where to go.