The Vinderhoutse forests, located to the west of Ghent, are one of the five green poles around Ghent. Together with the protected valley of the Oude Kale, you get a vast and peaceful area beneath your feet.

Text and photo Mark Dedapper

Despite the proximity of the city, the area where you will walk today is hardly built up. During this walk, you mainly walk along slow paths and trails through varying landscapes – a mosaic of wet swamp forest, grassland, and fields, surrounded by ditches, pollarded trees, and hedgerows. You will also pass by numerous castle parks and beautiful farmhouses. The area is in full development and is being further forested in various places. Five walking routes have been mapped out, which we will largely follow. Where multiple routes overlap, we only mention the signs that we will follow for the longest distance.

The route

Start at the Beekstraat parking lot across from house number 35 (V) - Public transport: 600 m after the bridge over the Ringvaart (stop city bus 9). From the parking lot, turn right onto the field path almost immediately, along the moated farmhouse (1) – follow the orange triangle. At the road, turn right for a moment and cross the bridge to turn left on the path. At the T-junction, turn right. From here, you will follow the signs “brown X.” At the T-junction, past a house, turn left. At the next T, turn right, always following the brown X. Just before the road, sharp left onto the field path. At the next road, turn right. At the T-junction, turn left onto the road – right is the linden avenue to Castle Schouwbroek (2). Just past the sign for Vinderhoute, just beyond another castle domain (3), turn left onto the cobblestone path. At the T-junction, turn left (Bergstraat). Just past the St. Anna Chapel (5) from 1648, turn left (Molenslag). To the right of the chapel, you will notice a beautiful beech avenue (4). 150 m past the parking lot of the cemetery (at point A) you can shorten the walk by 2.5 km // Leave the brown X and take the left path (yellow dot). At the road, turn right. 300 m further, you arrive at point B and join the longer route on the right (yellow dot and brown X)// At point A, brown X keep right. You pass the Van Vlaanderensmolen (6). Where the road curves to the right, past 2 farms, take the field path to the left. After about 1 km, take the narrower path to the left alongside the row of pollarded willows. Cross the Oude Kale to the left (7). You pass by 2 stepping stones. At the road, turn left. After 500 m, you arrive at point B. Right (yellow dot and brown X). At the little church of the Drongen Luchteren district (8), turn right. A little further, take the path to the left, parallel to the road. At Heiebreestraat, turn left. Beyond the last houses, leave the brown X and go straight on. No indications. Just before a renovated farmhouse, take the field path to the left. 150 m past the beautiful Begijnenboshoeve, take the path to the right, between two linden trees. Beyond another farmhouse, continue straight on with the yellow dot. At the road, turn right and after 100 m take the unpaved road to the left. You are now in the core of the Vinderhoutse Bossen (9). 300 m further, you will join the red square, which you follow until the endpoint. Attention: after about 800 meters of narrower forest path, turn right (red square). Exit the forest onto the road, turn right and just before the broader road turn right. You are now walking through the grounds of the former Leeuwenhof castle. Pay careful attention to the red signs. At the exit of the park, briefly turn right towards the parking lot.