The Dunes of Flanders

We take a loop walk along the Opal Coast between the Franco-Belgian border and the peaceful seaside resort of Leffrinckoucke. Despite the relative fame of this Franco-Flemish coastal region, the 600 ha dune area is large enough to discover surprisingly original dirt roads opposed to the west coast hiking network (which extends to Leffrinckoucke), the GR120 "GR du Littoral" and the many local hiking trails.

From the starting point, the car park at the border crossing in the district "De Mol", we walk on the Grenspad parallel to the "schreve" towards the beach and the GR 120. It will be a short walk on the beach because once past the campsite Le Perroquet we dive into the dunes of the same name. On an original but difficult route, we explore the many large and small 'pans' and 'dunes tops' of the 260 ha of La Dune du Perroquet. On a clear (frozen) day, the panoramas stretch from the mountains of West Flanders to ... the beach. We leave the "sea side" of this beautiful area of dunes freely accessible near the dike of Bray-Dunes where we connect again with the GR120 which descends the dike. Perhaps you choose the beach instead of a (paved) seawall walk. At the end of the dike, a second dune area is offered: La Dune Marchand (110 ha). Although the GR 120 also plunges into this dune, we opt for an original trail designed by us that partly uses the hiking network of the west coast. A little less spicy than La Dune du Perroquet but the soft sand is not strange from any calf bite. As at La Dune du Perroquet, we mainly walk along the "sea side" of the dune area. With Zuydcoote in sight, we descend to the beach and the GR120 to immediately take a long walk on the beach with our hair in the wind towards Leffrinckoucke. This pre-war resort is also the southernmost point of the promenade.

It continues to walk in the unpaved sand, but the height differences are more limited this time. We resume our steps via the Dune Dewulf (205 ha) that we cross from west to east under the direction of the pedestrian network in the middle to finish on the beach and the GR120 just before Zuydcoote. A short trip to the beach, because after going up the stake we enter the Dune Dewulf. We look for the white-red of the GR120, which we only find at the southern limit. With a hint of GR, we leave the dune area, cross the Avenue du Général De Gaulle in Bray-Dunes and reach the south side of La Dune du Perroquet via La Dune du Calvaire. Here, it is even more difficult because we attach great importance to "originality" and look for little-known sandy paths that lead us to Le Perroquet campsite. With the closure of the campsite in sight, we find ourselves on the abandoned railway line Ghent-De Panne-Dunkirk. The narrow path visible to the right of the slopes ends at the starting point and .... In the Val d'Or where the picon house is delicious!