Intro
From Antwerpen we drove by bus to Zandvliet. From there the GR 12 trail makes a wide curb around Antwerpen heading from north to east and ending at Maria-ter-Heide. The hike can be divided into 3 parts: interesting, utterly boring and then again interesting.
Back and forth
Every hour, bus 772 connects the Rooseveltplaats in Antwerpen with the village of Zandvliet. We took the 9 am bus and found ourselves in Zandvliet some 40 minutes later. From there it's a 1,5 km. walk to the tavern where we left the trail last time.
The hike ends in Maria-ter-Heide where the N1 road (Breda – Antwerpen) crosses the GR 12 trail. Bus 640 passes every hour and drives to Antwerpen.
The hike:
(click the picture for more images on Picasa)
From the starting point of the hike we immediately dive into the pine forests and back into the Netherlands. We'll return to Belgium 6 km. later. In the Netherlands the trail leads us through the nature reserve Markiezaat Brabantse Wal. Arriving at a crossing of forest paths we can't believe our eyes. A team of 8 sledge-dogs is passing by. They're not pulling a sledge (difficult without snow) but a quadbike. The engine wasn't running, so it all happened silently. On the bike sat a normal looking guy. If it had been Santa Claus, we would have been less surprised. It all happened in a flash and before we realised it, the strange combination had dissapeared again.
Just before arriving at the Belgian border again we walk over beautiful beech tree lanes. These are the Moretus forests, belonging to the Ravenhof estate. Ravenhof is one of the many castles built in the wide region around Antwerpen in the 18th and 19th centuries. Wealthy citizens all wanted their personal retreat from the hectic city life. Ravenhof and the surrounding area was a retreat of the rich Moretus family, owing it's money to their printing activities. They're considered to be the founders of book printing. The famous Plantin - Moretus museum in Antwerpen keeps this glorious past alive. Ravenhof wasn't their only retreat. At a given moment the family owned 25 similar estates. Quite impressive.
Ravenhof is close to Putte, a border community situated partly in the Netherlands, and on the Belgian side belonging partly to Stabroek and Kapellen. The famous painter Jacob Jordaens has his grave in the dutch part of Putte. He lived and worked in Antwerpen (he was a pupil of Rubens). The reason he's buried here has nothing to do though with his riches. In his later years, Jordaens converted to the calvinist religion. In roman-catholic Antwerpen the church refused to bury the calvinist - protestant renegades in catholic soil. So, Jordaens' daughter had to arrange for her father to be buried here, far from his beloved Antwerpen.
The GR 12 trail leads us around the Belgian part of Putte and joins the anti-tank canal which is followed for about 1,5 km. The canal was constructed by the end of the 1930's to cope with the ever increasing thread of war. At the time it was 30 meters wide. It connected the fortresses built around Antwerpen and was meant to be an impassable barrier for the 'modern' tank weapons. The canal never played its defensive role ... the Germans simply approached Antwerpen from the other side. After decades of neglect unique stretches of nature formed along the canal. In recent years they're gratefully integrated in many a local hiking path.
We follow the canal to where it reaches the (inaccessible) fortress Erbrand.
What follows is an absolutely boring hike of over 4 km. long through the vast residential quarters of Heide and Kapellenbos. Dull straightlined asphalt roads lead us along high fences equiped with cameras and speaking devices. Behind the fences country houses in all shapes and dimensions, decorated with shining but completely useless 4x4 vehicles. The only movements come from an occasional car driving by, and the smoke from the chimneys. It feels worse than walking through a graveyard in the middle of the Sahara, because at least there you don't feel like as if you're being spied on.
Where we reach the Franse Heide (French Heathland, now transformed into a golf course) our trail enters the Klein Schietveld domain. For many years this was an inaccessible military area and that's why it still features the original heath and forest vegetation. What a relieve after crossing those boring residential quarters.
Normally the paths in this area tend to be quite muddy. Fortunately the ground is now solidly froozen and it's easy to get along.
At the fortress of Brasschaat we're back at the anti-tank canal. Just like the previous fortress you can't get in. Years ago the complex was transformed into a hotel for bats. In 2007 there were over 700 of the little creatures hibernating and living there. Guided visits are regularly organised.
From the fortress the trail follows the anti-tank canal for another few kilometers, bordering the Bethanie quarter of the community of Brasschaat. Finally we arrive at the N1 road Breda – Antwerpen. Time to catch a bus back to Antwerpen.
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