Around the Schulensmeer

1. Enough parking space at Recreatiegebied Schulensmeer (V), Demerstraat 60 in Linkhout, borough of Lummen near Herk-de-Stad. There are also a cafeteria, Tourism Central Limburg and a nature education center. Walk to the water and turn left at the bank, onto the sandy path between Demer and lake. We left for a nature-rich walk, because behind the lake lies the Schulensbroek, an extensive nature reserve for which Natuurpunt, among others, takes care.

2. At the end of that dirt path you come to a barrier and an asphalt road at the pumping station ? . Follow the asphalt along the shore of the lake on the right. You will come to the Nature Management Project Binnenbekken Schulensbroek, grazed by cows of the Blonde d'Aquitaine breed and sheep. Feel free to take a look, but then follow the asphalt, so turn left. At the end with picnic bench ? turn right to turn right at the railway onto the earthen rampart behind the wooden fence, parallel to the asphalt. You get a nice view of that inner basin. The shore – the dike, which is supposed to stop high water – bends to the right a first time, a second time a little further on. You can now go down a flight of stairs, but you only do that on the second staircase further down. Downstairs is an information board with a smaller one next to it, about the importance of a lot of pure water for the Schulensbroek.

3. Follow the path straight ahead, all the way to the house no. 10 in the Beerbosstraat. Take a left for a detour to the centre of Schulen for a glass and a puddle. Shortening: if you don't want that detour, turn right into the Beerbosstraat. At Brasserie Sint-Jan, with terrace, turn right into the Kiezelweg and the church of Sint-Jan Baptist ? beyond. Continue to the roundabout and keep right, still the Pebble Road. Watch out for traffic and after 150 m turn right into Gulkerveldstraat. Where the asphalt bends to the left in front of house No. 17, choose the fork on the right, into the field at a wooden fence that is open. For example, you walk between two corn fields to a barbed wire. Follow it to the right and walk between two white buildings onto the cobbled road. It turns into gravel and that's how you get to a T-jump, again the Beerbosstraat. Turn left now. Those who chose the shortening, rejoin the route by walking straight between house numbers 39 (right) and 22 (left).

4. At a bridge with picnic bench ? Natuurpunt welcomes you again to Schulensbroek. You step straight on the cobblestone road. Where it ends, you come to two identical closures. Take the right, the left enters an – inaccessible – rest area. Attention: during the breeding season from March 15 to June 15, take the left straight ahead until you get back on the trail. While you walk along with the route markers with a red triangle, you will automatically come back to the dike from earlier. After all, you have to go back to that lake, don't you? Turn left now. Sheep graze below, on the other side you can see the building where you left earlier. The wide dike path curves further to the left and again follows the shore of the lake. A sign tells you that mallards, crested and slobber ducks, swans, grebes and coots are at home here. Cormorants hibernate there and occasionally even an osprey forages in transit.

5. If you have rounded the corner of the lake, you will continue to follow the poles with the yellow rectangle straight ahead on the dike. After all, the rest area on the right is not accessible from January to May 31. Past another fence and information board you walk straight ahead on asphalt and after 50 m – via a gate to the right of the road – through forest onto a winding sandy path. Soon you walk along a boardwalk to arrive at a measuring pole ? . It shows you historically high water levels. At 23 metres, the water level of 23 December 1993 is unsurpassed. A little further on you come to a T. There you walk up the earthen path between the trees to your starting point.