Train driver Alken > St. Truiden

From hiking guide 'Treinstapper 1'

Streek-GR Haspengouw | GR 128 Vlaanderenroute

The GR path between these two train stations is part of the Streek-GR Haspengouw. The entire Streek-GR is a hiking loop of about 180 km and was named Hiking Route of the Year 2016. For two-thirds of the trail, you walk between low-stem and high-stem orchards. Haspengouw is the largest fruit-growing region after South Tyrol in Italy and the producer of apples in Europe. But pears and cherries also shape the landscape. This part of Haspengouw is called Wet Haspengouw and is less hilly. Where no fruit farming is practiced, you walk between fields with various types of grains, vegetables, beets, and strawberries. At other points along this route, you pass through forest areas with ancient broadleaf trees: the Oak Forest, the Kluis Forest, and the Gallows Forest in the provincial domain of Nieuwenhoven. The latter is a beautiful park forest, located near the 1,000-year-old Castle Nieuwenhoven. Prominent in the landscape are the signs that have remained from the pious past of the region. "In Alken," says a local resident, "every street has its chapel." And Sint-Truiden is known as the city of religious monuments. There are more than a hundred religious monuments, including the Begijnhof, a protected UNESCO complex.