Along the Grote Nete in Itegem

Start at the parish church of Itegem, part of Heist-op-den-Berg. There is limited parking space on Sint-Guibertusplein and the surrounding streets, but you can also get there by public transport: in that case, take bus 511 from the NMBS station of Heist-op-den-Berg, direction Herentals or bus 297 from Lier. The St. Guibert's Church was built in 1789 and has been protected since 1981. The square white tower dates from around 1660. From Sint-Guibertusplein, walk into Karel Govaerts street and ignore all side streets. On your left you pass a brick corner tower with gilded crowning. A remnant of a former moated castle "Ter Borght" Continue the Karel Govaertsstraat until you reach the Grote Nete after about 150 m. On your left Huize Fontein, a former city brewery. Step over the bridge and turn left right next to the water. You will soon leave the hustle and bustle of the stone road behind you and enjoy the beautiful landscape of Felix Timmermans and Pallieter. The towpath is not paved and you will not be bothered by cycling tourists. The Grote Nete winds through the tender green meadows, past hay meadows and poplar forests and between wood edges and willow bushes. Historically, the landscape consisted of swamps and wet hay meadows. Due to the dikes under the Sigma plan in the 80s, the natural floodplain was cut off from the meandering river. Q Currently, the landscape consists of wet grazing meadows, interspersed with hay meadows, roughs, canada forests, willow bushes and alder trousers. The area is in fact a mosaic of these different vegetations. This created this very varied landscape. Buzzard, kestrel and sparrowhawk are permanent residents, but you will also find robin, bluethroat, bush warbler, summer torpedo and warbler in summer. The water itself does not look very clean and has a typical brown color, but has improved in quality in recent years and our most common freshwater fish thrive there. You can see a lot of water birds, especially in winter. After about 2.5 km you walk over the Wimp. The Wimp rises in Stelen (Geel) and is the largest tributary of the Grote Nete. Further on the towpath and after another mile you will arrive at inn 't Schipke. In the distant past, 't Schipken was a small inn on the Grote Nete, with a ferry. In 1949 a footbridge was thrown over the water and in 1975 even recordings were made here for the film Pallieter. Now this tavern/restaurant, halfway through the walk, might be an opportunity for a refreshment. Walk across the wooden footbridge and straight ahead on a narrow path through the meadow, away from the water. (Those who do not want to separate from the Grote Nete itself can also walk here along the other bank upstream back to Itegem). At the end turn to the left. After 200 m you turn right out of the meadow and then continue on a wide field road next to a stream and a beautiful row of oak trees. At the T-junction, walk to the right in an oak drive on a paved gravel road. The wide gravel road bends to the left, then to the right and then to the left again and brings you to a single-lane concrete road. Walk to the right and after 800 m you will come to a wider and fairly busy stone road. Go to the left and preferably left along the stone road and be careful! Ignore Hooiweg 35 and Driehoekstraat on the right and walk to the right after 500 m into the quiet Kleine Hooiweg. Ignore the Molenlei and the Rozendaelstraat in turn. You enter a new neighborhood and also leave the Nieuwstraat behind. Now walk to the left into the Heksestraat, then to the right in the Leliestraat and then to the left in the Rozenstraat where you can already see the Sint Guibertus church tower showing up. Ignore Begoniastraat and Zonnebloemstraat and at the T-junction you leave all those flower streets behind you and walk to the right to the Sint-Guibertuskerk and the starting place.