Real villages in Flanders still exist! A 'Dorpstraat' with the church in a prominent place and opposite the only café in the village. That's Bekegem at its feet.

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Text and photo Eddy Vlyminck
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Bekegem is a bit hidden between fields and meadows, shining in the shadow of bigger brothers such as Ichtegem and Gistel. But it's good life there. Agriculture, more specifically beef cattle farming, is the main activity there. The cows are grazing in the tender meadows and barely look up when a car drives by. You will even find a touch of France: everywhere you see signs that refer to the 'Bekegemse foie gras'. The ducks that provide this controversial delicacy, together with the 'Witte Molen' of Bekegem, are one of the eye-catchers during this walk. We start our walk at the listed church, which together with the presbytery, the cemetery and the double row of lime trees forms a protected village view.

The route
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Start at the Sint-Amanduskerk of Bekegem, near café Watervalle, Dorpstraat 4. With your back to the entrance of the church, you walk to the right. You now follow the Kerkweg. Walk past the entrance to the cemetery and a double garage. Turn to the left and a little further to the right. Immediately you walk through open meadow with a view of a water tower in the distance. At the end of the Kerkweg at the T-junction, in front of the house with house no. 24, beat your LA. You walk past farm Den Beuterbergh in the direction of a red and white mast. At the T-junction LA. You now follow the Zeeweg. Soon you reach the Witte Molen van Bekegem, on the territory of Roksem, at the intersection of Ossenweg and Zeeweg, on an artificial hill. The mill has a rich history and was formerly used to grind grain and oats. RD. You follow the Zeeweg, between the fields. Ignore all side roads.

Just past the chapel of Our Lady of Middelares you reach the intersection with the Watervallestraat and the Vaartstraat. Hikers who want to shorten the walk by 4 km, go here RD. This makes the walk suitable for buggies and wheelchair users. The others hit RA, into the Vaartstraat. Soon you will see the Bourgognebeek on the left. Keep following the Vaartstraat, past a restored farmhouse and a crucifix, until you reach a small bridge. Here LA, the Bourgognewegel. You walk it to the end. There again LA. At a chapel you walk past the Bourgognehof. At the level of a bend to a house with house no. 2, leave the Streulestraat and walk rd into the Bekegemstraat. At the T-junction, at cycle junction 64, you reach the Zeeweg again. Here RA. The hikers who took the shortening come back here on the trail. At farm 't Hoekske LA. You now follow the Schipleedstraat and the signpost 'Bekegemse foie gras'. A little further, opposite a shady resting place, you can see the poor ducks on the right in the meadow. At the next intersection LA. This is the Doornhoekstraat (4). You continue to follow the Doornhoekstraat (ignore all side roads) until the intersection with the Dorpstraat. Here LA. You now follow the winding Dorpstraat to the starting point.