Ultra Tour of Limburg

This is the Tour of Limburg par excellence: the most beautiful landscapes and the most difficult slopes of Haspengouw, Voerstreek and Dutch South Limburg in one wonderfully long journey. See images of the entire course here . Also follow Strava.

Method: I started from the official route of the classic Spring Tour of Limburg, replaced all the boring stone roads with the most beautiful rural roads I found at tourist sites and route planners, and added a pinch of climbs. The result is a wonderful balance between sport and the pure enjoyment of landscape and beauty.

The starting point is either in Sint-Truiden if you come by train, or in Hoepertingen if you come by car. The tour consists of 3 parts.

HASPENGOUW: WELLEN-KORTESSEM-HOESELT-BILZEN

50 beautiful kilometers to Kanne on the Dutch border, the pivotal point of the ride. Here I found a court of Eden. One village after another is a rural paradise. Hoepertingen, Berlingen, Herten, Wellen, Vrolingen, Kerniel, the castle village of Gors-Opleeuw. Square farmhouses, castles, charming houses, barns with monumental tithes, churches, farms with strawberries to fill up with energy.

After Hoeselt and Bilzen, follow signs for Martenslinden, Kleine Spouwen and Vlijtingen. On every hill there is a castle that overlooks the vast green fields around. And the hills, you have to cross them here anyway. The further east you go, the closer you get to the Dutch border and the Voer region, the firmer you'll climb.

The Letenberg near Bilzen is such a sting. And soon after, another in Kleine Spouwen, in a green tunnel through the fields where you plunge into a dead tree trunk with a Jesus on the cross. When you go upstairs, the cows are lounging in the shade of a chapel. Ave Maria.

Without expecting it, you suddenly get a breathtaking view, a masterpiece of engineering: the Albert Canal that crosses the wooded Cannerberg and the Vroenhoven Bridge. Here you can feel it: you enter mountainous atmospheres. You dive into the wooded flank of the Cannerberg, climb the Muizenberg, reach the old Dutch border post at the top with views of a wide plateau, then plunge into Kanne on a steep descent. This village is located on the Flemish-Walloon-Dutch border, right in Flemish Limburg.

Suddenly, you see the modern suspension bridge over the Albert Canal, the Kanne Bridge. It was the first suspension bridge in Flanders in 2005. On the gates of the bridge, you can sometimes see boys and girls in swimsuits diving tens of meters into the depths in summer temperatures, in the Albert Canal.

You don't have much time to dwell on such scenes. The road calls. From Kanne you can either stay in Hesbaye and ignore the Voerstreek/South Limburg, or make the crossing to land behind the water. This is where the real work begins and you know that everything that came before that was only preparation for it.

VOEREN/SOUTH LIMBURG

100 heavy kilometers with 12 firmer and higher slopes: Schophemerheide! The Waides! The Heydt! Magnebos/Wants! On oaks/ulvend! Slenaken border road! The shelf! Gieveld! Groenendalsberg! Beaver Mountain! Cauberg! Saint-Pietersberg! Instead of hilly slopes at 100 meters above sea level, they are walls and calf bites up to almost 300 meters high and with much more elevation.

After Kanne follow a few Walloon kilometers, a stretch between the imposing rock walls along the Albert Canal and a ferry crossing the Meuse to the Netherlands. After a few beautiful Dutch rural kilometres via Mariadorp, you start exploring the Voerstreek, this secluded green part of Upper Flanders surrounded by Wallonia and the Netherlands.

It is also the country on many borders. You cross a national or language border 10 times. Flemish Limburg, Walloon Cork and Dutch Limburg are located here at a very low price. You can see on the erased place names in Dutch on bilingual signs that Belgians in particular fought among themselves for this region. If I had paint there, I would have immediately erased the names in French and painted a message: "Groups of people are fighting for something that belongs to neither. The sole owner of planet Earth is Mother Nature. »

And yet, this walk makes you feel that the culture is constantly evolving. In the Voer region, it constantly drives south-north, 4 times to the right through this Flemish enclave of Limburg between the Walloon and Dutch border. During the south-north movements, you will always feel Walloon culture, Flemish culture and Dutch culture at a distance of less than 10 kilometers.

On a sporting level, you really have to have a strong will here because it's mentally exhausting: the part of Dutch South Limburg doesn't seem to come because you're always driving south, you know.

First Schophemerheide of Sint-Martens-Voeren, the most difficult ascent to date through a first nature reserve. At the top, you have to turn right and go down the Schophemerheide because from the top, only a hollow and steep path descends through the forest. Then south into a piece of Wallonia for the heavy and breathtakingly beautiful diptych La Heydt / Les Waides. Two kilometers of Ardennes climbs with breathtaking panoramas.

Then head north into Flanders, across the entire width of the Voerstreek to the foot of Op De Eiken, a wonderful ascent through rolling fields via a hairpin bend to a peak at an altitude of 220 meters on the Dutch border at Ulvend. As if the administrative division of this region was not complicated enough, Ulvend goes even further: the beautiful village is literally on the border and belongs to Flanders (Sint-Martens-Voeren) and the Netherlands (Eijsden) at the same time! Limburg is without a doubt.

Then return to the south by a small detour along the Dutch Slenakan, which you deposit nicely at the foot of De Plank, another slope of the Flemish Voerstreek. And then comes the next one: Veurs, a long and difficult climb through the magnificent Veursbos (one of the forest reserves in the Voer region). You climb onto the roof of this route: Hagelstein, at an altitude of 287 meters.

And then back north for the hairpin bend up Gieveld. At the top of the Teuvenerberg at an altitude of 230 meters, before finally entering Dutch South Limburg, you can enjoy the panoramic view and refreshing ice cream at Hoeve Gieveld. I chose the cherry flavor, my icing on the food cake.

Then it goes up and down in a grand arc towards Maastricht, through truly stunning scenery with stunning views of green patchwork blankets, and picturesque villages such as Euverem and Gulpen. Old farmhouses, typical black and white half-timbered houses with wooden beamed structures, beautiful churches, cozy cafes, up to the cycling mecca Valkenburg, with the Cauberg. World famous for the Amstel Gold Race, but not a particularly beautiful climb in itself. The other tracks you visit here in the countryside are much more enjoyable.

Van Valkenburg you will be in Maastricht in no time, where I tried my best to avoid the urban jungle. Then you will be back to the Belgian border via the rural Jekerdal, again to the Kanne Bridge (during the 100 kilometers through Voeren and South Limburg it is easy to shorten at different places).

When you see the Kanne Bridge looming, you feel euphoric. You have just completed a 100-kilometre "mountain hike" uphill. But beware of this euphoria! Now, 100 kilometers follow.

HASPENGOUW: RIEMST-TONGEREN-BORGLOON-HEERS

Not cat, heavier than part 1 and lots of squirming around Tongeren and Borgloon so it looks like you're not moving forward. During the renunciation in the Voerstreek / South Limburg, you must bear in mind that in part 2 of Haspengouw there are still 16 (!) calf biters waiting for you. These two deserve special mention: Zusserdel and Manshoven/Op De Kriezel.

Zusserdel, nicknamed Slingerberg, is a road that starts from the Kanner Bridge like a snake through a paradisiacal hill that culminates on a wide plateau.

Manshoven is a terrible 2000 meter long paved strip around the Manshovenhof farm in a corner of paradise between Bommershoven and Heks. You then get a few kilometers of respite and start immediately on Op De Kriezel, an even more terrible paved strip 1700 meters long. Swearing in a trembling voice through the viewer, but it is undoubtedly an impressive road.

Passing through some charming Walloon villages, you return to Bommershoven, because it was a loop of 20 kilometers in the direction of Otrange. After all, Otrange was known as Wouteringen until 1967 and belonged to Limburg. Once back in Bommershoven, the last 20 kilometers begin, the masterful finale.

In Borgloon, you go up to the central square and cross to Kuttekoven. Pointed towers of churches and castles adorn hilltops in vast valleys, with orchards on rolling hills below. Through it snake undulating macadams with here and there chapels for Our Lady of Lourdes and the Virgin of the Poor who comes to relieve suffering. Poppies, grains and daisies form a hedge of honour. Fields full of golden wheat. And that really all around, to distant horizons. Under plastic sheeting, strawberries ripen.

This Ultra Tour of Limburg is above all an exercise in perseverance, perseverance when things no longer seem to be going well, perseverance to exceed one's limits, finding one's second, third, fourth wind: it is a fantastic feeling that can only be experienced in such ultra wrinkles.

So be sure to keep an eye on that mental resilience. Don't give up, keep pedaling, and don't let intermediate feelings of euphoria get hold of you. Somewhere in the last 100 kilometers, I met the man with the hammer. I thought, "This is where my limit lies. All that follows is stumble and die. But what happened? 30 kilometers from the line, in Borgloon, dusk was already entering, I saw a strawberry and blueberry vending machine. I gorged myself on it and as after the best "gelleke" I had a boost. It could also be the adrenaline of the final.

No energy bar can match the boost you get when you ride this final at sunset, through the golden fields, the king too rich. Even the very last slope - At Helshoven's gallows at the floating chapel - could not lead me to the gallows in hell, but led me directly to the scene in paradise.

The route includes a ferry across the Meuse between Lanaye and Eijsden. At a rare time (e.g. in case of strong currents due to flooding), it is out of service. In this case, you need to take the Lixhe Bridge a little further.
In 3 places there are unpaved strips, but doable with a racing bike.
250 kilometers and 2700 meters above sea level is heavy, sometimes heavy. You can easily cut or skip pieces. Or ride in different stages. And if you wish, build it this way to be able to make the trip in 1 time at some point. At your discretion.

ALL TRACKS

HASPENGOUW (first run, 11 tracks)
1. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/kukkelberg-wellen
2. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/vrolingenberg
3. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/kernielberg-tapstraat-oorsprongstraat
4. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/leeuwberg-gors
5. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/glainberg
6. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/brugstraat-leterweg-bilzen
7. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/letenberg-bilzen
8. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/kleine-spouwen-jaak-vandersandenstraat
9. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/dennebosberg-berg
10. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/rotenweg-kleine-spouwen
11. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/muizenberg

FOURONS (8 tracks)
1. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/schophemerheide
2. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/les-waides
3. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/la-heydt
4. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/magnebos
5. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/op-de-eiken
6. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/grensweg-slenaken
7. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/de-plank-nurop
8. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/gieveld

LIMBURG SOUTH (4 tracks)
1. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/groenendalsberg
2. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/beversberg
3. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/cauberg
4. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/sint-pietersberg-schutterijweg

HASPENGOUW (second run, 16 tracks)
1. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/zusserdel
2. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/tolstraat-herderen
3. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/keiberg-weert
4. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/sieberg-daalstraat
5. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/berg-gousbeemdstraat
6. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/verhenis-henis
7. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/vrijhernstraat-riksingenstraat
8. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/zammelenberg-jesseren
9. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/manshoven-sassenbroek
10. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/op-de-kriezel-horpmaal
11. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/lauwstraat-lauw
12. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/grootloonstraat-groot-loon
13. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/burchtheuvel-borgloon
14. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/fonteinhof-gotem
15. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/mettekovenberg
16. https://climbfinder.com/nl/beklimmingen/de-galg-helshoven