Cycling along Stadsgordel in Sint-Niklaas

Meet at the village square Ten Bos of the clog maker municipality Nieuwkerken-Waas (V). If you do not find a parking space, drive to sports hall De Mispelaer, the route passes there. At the bus shelter in front of the church, leave for junction 77, where you turn left to KP 78. Then do not choose the Hazenpad, but turn into the Zeveneekhoekstraat. Bend to the left at the stream house on a square until you find the Poelstraat on the right. Drive it all the way to a T-junction with strawberry vending machine. • Take the SintNiklaasstraat to the left. Then turn right onto the second street, Hoogstraat. On the way to KP 83 you can hear the pollard willows rustling. Ignore all side streets and cycle left at the end into Weynstraat. On your way you will find youth residence Kriekepitte (1), a first reference to the Wase Reinaert story. Turn right onto Braemstraat2. Attention, you are soon approaching the crossing of the fast N403. Along the Molenbeek Take the zebra crossing to the other side and drive into the Warme Nauwstraat, which further becomes Oude Kroonstraat. Ignore all side streets and enjoy meadows, orchards and fields. At the first T you turn left into the Kwade Plas. After a while you will find a brand new cycle path right in the Marktstraat, right on the city border, along the picturesque Molenbeek. In the distance you can see the SintJobkerk of Puivelde on the left, where Saint Anthony Abbot is celebrated exuberantly every January. You carefully cross the Kemzekestraat and can then linger at the next bridge at KP 92. You continue your ride through the Waterstraat to a tree chapel with a meditative text (2). Drive there into the Cadzandstraat. Beyond the sports grounds of VOS Reinaert - again that cunning red light! - take the beautiful Aartdreef on the right to the Stekense vaart dug seven hundred years ago (3). Shortening For the short route (KR) turn left at VOS into the Hondsneststraat. You keep right through Neerstraat and Zakstraat until you take Hellestraat at a T to the left. There you can continue from café Luitentuit (4). Continued long loop What can the silence be impressive in the Boudelo Foundation. The name of this nature reserve refers to a twelfth-century abbey, which unfortunately left few traces. (You could have taken the beautiful sandy Liniedreef a little earlier, but the drivability is not always guaranteed there). You now take the Coppensbrug over the canal and then follow the Stiltepad to the left until KP 2 Koebrug. Along the way you can - literally and figuratively - dwell on poetry by Wase poets. From the bridge you follow the recent cycle path through the Weimanstraat towards Sinaai. If you're lucky, you might see a pine marten wandering around. Under the care of statue De Schaapherder by Frans Heirbaut (5) you cross the Keizerstraat and continue your route in the Leebrugstraat. You pass microbrewery Donum Ignis and then turn left into the Leestraat at a brick chapel. You end up on the T of the Hulstbaan and continue to the left until you reach café Luitentuit. • Here you briefly enter the street of the same name and then take the Kernemelkstraat on the left, direction KP 30. At the first fork you take right, at the second fork you turn left into the Limietstraat. Cross Wijnveld carefully, after which you end up in Hooimanstraat via Wilgenstraat and Populierenstraat. Follow it to the right until you reach the SNCB station of Sinaai. Second shortening You can shorten here by cycling along the cycle path along the Ghent-Antwerp railway, to KP 33 (SNCB station Belsele). There you are close to home brewery Boelens. If you now follow the signs to KP 34, you will pass the spot where one of the longest graffiti walls in the country was sprayed in 2012 (6). After the former clay pits and the site of SVKbouwmaterialen you arrive at the Westerplein. Continue your tour on the other side of the Westerlaan to the traffic light. There you go straight on the cycle path and thus - with the railway viaduct always on the left above your head - reach the square in front of the SNCB station. • Follow the right flank of the Siniscoop complex and turn left onto the cycle path at the farthest corner. At the second traffic light - immediately after the first - cross the Singel and follow the cycle path under the viaduct, until the first traffic light. There you go to the right and a little further under the viaduct onto the cycle path on the left. When you arrive at a tunnel, you do left-right, you pedal hard and make it to nieuwkerken station. Continue to follow the cycle path for 1.3 kilometers until you cross the Kwakkelhoekstraat. Here you will find a connection to the Stadsgordel in the direction of Beveren. Continue long loop Back from Sinaai. At the station, drive through Schrijberg to the Lokerse Baan, which you cross at the traffic lights. Where you see a bicycle signpost to Belsele, cross and follow the Eekhoekstraat so that you come next to the deafening E17. Where you – whew! - drive away from the motorway, immediately turn right. Don't go over the viaduct! At the fork at an ochre-colored house, turn left into Herkstraat/Arkestraat. Don't be alarmed: the 'Palace of Versailles' a little further away is just a kennel. At the T with the N70 you drive to the right until you can enter the Bookmolenstraat. Here you then take the Weverstraat in the direction of Waasmunster; you pass the large biotechnical and sports department of the Broederschool Jerome (7). With the bridge over the E17 you now get a climb under the wheels. At the traffic lights of the Roskamstraat you take the Waasmunsterse Steenweg, which leads past the Park cemetery Heimolen. • At the next traffic lights, go straight ahead and follow Kettermuitstraat. It makes a left turn a little further, under the E17. You follow the arrows to Industriepark-Noord, you pass well-known companies such as Niko and Domo. In the Puitvoetstraat you go right under the N16 and then always pedal straight over the Hoge Heerweg and the Eigenlostraat. Just past the junction with the Sint-NiklaasMechelen-Leuven railway, take the Brandstraat on the left. You cycle to a four-arm point. Now you are about a hundred meters from the provincial recreation area De Ster. • Are your tires hard? This is where the cobblestones of the Beeldstraat start, an unadulterated piece of Paris-Roubaix of 1.3 km. Maybe just ask the Heikapel for assistance... At the shocking end, take Vossekotstraat on the left and then Tassijnslaan on the right, named after a folk hero from the Boerenkrijg who fought 'for outer and heerd'. After 200 meters you cross the road to turn left into the Jagersdreef. You keep following it until you reach the T of the Grote Baan, where you turn right. For example, you can reach a large newly constructed roundabout on the N70 along the Red Cross reception centre Westakkers. On the other side you drive into the Kwakkelhoekstraat and then cross the railway. Drive to the right on the cycle path to Beveren until a row of LED lighting poles starts. Cross through the forest to the Freshwater Street. Then - along with the Kapellekesroute - take the road to the left. You cycle here again between the typical convex fields. This way you end up - via the Mulderstraat on the right - at the traditional liqueur factory Verhofstede (8). Just past that, turn left into Kriekelaarstraat. You cross the Vrasenestraat N451 and drive straight ahead. Until the Buitenstraat collides with the Drielindenstraat. Now drive to the left until you reach FP77. Through the Gyselstraat you automatically arrive at the starting point on Ten Bos at the equally controversial and shiny artwork 'Hemelboog'.