This walk balances on the border between Belgium and the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, you traverse the nature reserve Wilde Landen, while on the Belgian side, the Stropersbos takes center stage. Start at the parking lot at Preekekeplein in Stekene (V). With your back to the church, turn right. After a few hundred meters, the road changes into a path. Follow around a pond and continue until you reach a T-junction. Here, follow the asphalt road (St-Jansteenstraat) to the left. Where this road bends to the left, take the grassy path straight ahead (Stropersroute). 300 meters later, you cross the border (① border post) and enter the nature reserve Wilde Landen. At a bench, take the wide sandy path to the left along a broad ditch. At a T-junction with another bench, turn right, and at the next T, go left. A hundred meters further, just after a bend to the right, take the path to the right (purple arrow). • You will go around a small building for water extraction and continue your way along a ditch. Be careful: after 200 meters, take a narrow path to the right.
At a T-junction with a bench, follow the wider path to the left. Ignore an intersection of forest paths and arrive at another T-junction. Here, turn left to turn right a bit further along into Van Hogendorplaan. At the main road (N290), turn right, and just past the roundabout, take the small street (Galgenveldstraat) to the left, which turns into a gravel path.
Where the street bends to the left, go straight ahead into the beautiful narrow forest path. Ignore all side paths. At a T-junction at the edge of the forest, go a little to the left, and immediately after the factory, turn right. Follow the grassy path along a pond until the first forest road, which you turn onto on the right. About a hundred meters further, follow the forest road to the left (GR sign) ②. • If you want to shorten the walk by 1.5 km, instead of taking the forest road to the left at ②, follow the path straight ahead. 600 meters later, at a fork ④, take the path to the right (yellow-red SGR signs) and join the longer route. • If you took the forest road to the left at ②, follow it until it reaches an old railway bed ③ in front of the first houses (information board). Follow this to the right, and opposite the first street, take the forest road to the right (information board and barrier). At an intersection of forest paths, about 300 meters later, go right again until you reach a fork ④. Turn left here.
From here, follow the yellow-red signs of the Regional GR (SGR) Reynaertland. You will now follow the ditch of the eighteenth-century Bedmarlinie ⑥. The triangular structures of the rampart are still clearly visible. Along the way, you will pass a forest house with a bat colony ⑦. • Anyone looking to extend the walk in an adventurous way by 2 km can take the path to the left after 500 meters past point ④ ⑤. Ignore the first path to the right and take the next turn to the right a few meters past a bench (gate, post with a blue top). You will now follow the magnificent Laarzenpad in the opposite direction, through a nature reserve grazed by konik horses and galloways. Dogs are not allowed here. The paths are not always clear, but rely as much as possible on the blue posts.
After 1 km, you will come to a weekend cottage through a closing gate. Go right along the fence to go through a gate into the reserve another 100 meters to the right. Follow the path straight ahead and after a narrow passage, go diagonally right to a blue post. At a split (posts), go left, and at the next split, go right and through the meadow. At a couple of benches, take the planked path to the left. Through a gate, you will arrive at the forest house ⑦, where you will join the normal route to the left. •
The path leads to the busy road N403, which you cross. Go a little to the left (always follow SGR signs) and almost immediately to the right (dead-end street sign!). Continue to follow the SGR signs and take the bend to the left after about 500 m. You will arrive at the roadway and keep to the left there (St-Jansteenstraat). Then take the first street on the right. This quickly turns into a path. The SGR signs will bring you back to the parking lot.