Through the Maskobos and the Vlethemveld

Departure (V) in the center of Snellegem - parking on the Bosweg diagonally opposite the church. Leave the car park in the direction of the church and continue straight on Eernegemweg. At a crossroads with café always straight ahead. • Past a white restored farmhouse, take the paved Poaching Path to the right. Just past a pine forest you come to a beautiful fish pond. At the end of the Poaching Path, take the asphalt road to the left. You come to the wickless Boerenmolen, dating from 1858 (1). Continue straight ahead following the rural Oude Bruggeweg. At the end of the road, take the Permekepad to the right. • Just before a high hedge, behind which a large horticultural company is hiding, follow the field road on the left. At the end, take the semi-paved road to the right, which later turns into asphalt. We arrive at the Aartrijksesteenweg. Cross, follow the stone road on the left and turn 100 meters further to the right into a beautiful pedestrian and cyclist drive. You will soon arrive in the Maskobos managed by Natuurpunt (2). Turn right 200 meters further into the forest path and follow the clearly marked red signs of Natuurpunt for quite some time. The path winds through the edge of the forest. At a fork, continue to follow the edge of the forest.• The path leads to a concrete road. Turn left and 100 meters further on a few picnic benches again follow the foot and cycle path on the left. At the end turn right through a wooden gate (red arrows). After the fence, follow the Beukendreef straight ahead. Further on over a wooden bridge. Attention: ignore the red arrows of Natuurpunt from here. At the end of the path, in front of a field, follow the grass road to the left. You will again arrive at the Aartrijksesteenweg, which you follow to the right. After 100 metres, turn left onto the beech-lined Langedreef. Where the asphalt ends, at a crossroads of field roads, follow the field road straight ahead. You walk along fields and vast flower fields. After 500 meters between greenhouses and a farm, zigzag just right-left until you reach a crossroads. Walk to the right and follow this road until the Eernegemweg. To the right and shortly afterwards to the left into the Vloethemveldstraat. To your left you see the Hildeghemhof (3), owned since the thirteenth century by the Sint-Janshospitaal in Bruges. • At the end of the asphalt you enter the nature reserve of the Vloethemveld, a green buffer of 329 hectares. On the left you can see the fence of the former military domain that lies in the middle of it and is now a protected nature reserve.•You arrive at the new watchtower (4), which gives you a magnificent view of the – inaccessible – center of the Vloethemveld, where the heath is gradually recovering. You continue to follow the forest drive. Just past a meadow and a spacious house you take the path to the left. You enter the forest and follow the straight beech drive straight ahead. Walk to the left at an intersection. At the next intersection, continue straight until you come out of the forest. • You now come to a beautiful cobblestone road lined with canals and oaks. Follow this for quite some time. After 600 meters at a Y-junction at the protected Vloethemhoeve, keep going straight ahead. You come on concrete. • On the main road, turn left and 50 meters further to the right, into Meersbeekstraat. At a crossroads to the right, into the Westmoere. Zigzag along the main road through the residential area until you reach a crossroads. Turn left into Zuidmoere. After a bend you will see right in front of you the monumental entrance gate of the historic and protected Oosthof with moat (5), now a beautiful brasserie with rustic interior. Gate and main buildings in their present form date from the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries. Walk to the left here and a few meters further you will come to the parking lot again.