From 'potjeir' to 'Scots pine'. Cycling along heritage and nature in Herselt, Westmeerbeek and Weste

In collaboration with the landscape park 'de Merode' and the 'Antwerpse Kempen', the municipality of Herselt published a beautiful brochure entitled 'Cycling through the history of Herselt'. The route takes us past the cycle junctions '88-86-87-12-07-94-85-83-84-88' through a typical Kempen landscape and past the village centers of Ramsel, Zoerle-Parwijs and Westerlo. The brochure not only tells about the heritage and the historical landscape elements, but also about nature.

We usually cycle through an open, quiet, green and car-free landscape, where forests, fields and meadows alternate. In the northern part of the loop, between Westmeerbeek and Zoerle-Parwijs, we pass a few kilometers along another characteristic of our Kempen, namely the 'ribbon construction'.

We have taken the route of this route from the brochure and only added an extension to and from Westmeerbeek over 2 kilometers to cycle along the Grote Nete and visit the church ruins. If you only follow the junctions, the route is about 30 kilometers. When you do all the small expansions, about 5 kilometers are added. Since these extensions start and end at the same point, you can easily ignore them. But these extensions are worth it, and if you have time, you should not leave it.

The route is a loop that starts at the parking lot of 'Mie Maan'. But you can easily connect to multiple places. There are plenty of parking spaces in the village centers.

We have indicated most of the sights with photos and a piece of text that is often based on this from the brochure. Here and there we have added information from other sources. We recommend that you pick up the brochure at one of the tourist offices. You can also retrieve them electronically from the Herselt website. The direct link can be found here or under 'more information'.

The route is mostly paved and easy to drive, even in bad weather. There are no difficult slopes at all. And for those who like to eat or drink something, there are the village centers where there is always a suitable catering business. For those who want to stay in the region for a few days, there are plenty of guest houses.