Intro
A dry weather forecast in a rainy period, that's something we can't ignore. We had to take the opportunity ... and that's exactly what we did on Saturday 9/8/2008.
We decided for a nearby hike on the GR 12 trail (Amsterdam – Paris).
Back and forth
The start: Park Rivierenhof at Deurne. It is easily reached by tram 10 from the center of Antwerpen.
Finish: the railway station at Kessel. There's IR-trains going to Antwerpen-Centraal every hour. You must buy your ticket on the train since there's no more personnel working at the station in Kessel. You can also buy your ticket in advance via internet or in Antwerpen.
The hike
The hike takes you to Wommelgem, Ranst, Broechem and Emblem, follows the river Kleine Nete for a while and passes through the Kesselse Heide (a stretch of heathland). The first part of this hike (up to the Zevenbergen forest near Ranst) is also described in the hiking book Dagstappergids Antwerpen (hike nr. 7).
(klik op de foto voor de volledige reeks op Picasa)
One would expect a rather densely populated region during this hike, but all in all there's still lots of green areas in between the villages. Also, you'll be surprised at the number of community paths that still manage to survive in these villages, although you'll have to live with the high green, wooden or concrete fences along the paths.
Except for some inevitable corn fields you can't expect much arable and stock farming here. The agricultural property pattern is too fragmented. However, you'll find quite a few horticultural companies, and looking at the grass meadows, everybody seems to have horses.
What we didn't know is that from Ranst on the landscape is largely made up of vast orchards (apples and pears). Near Emblem the trail simply leads you through these green oases. However, plucking a succulent apple is not a thing we would recommend. Maybe the farmer wouldn't mind as long as you don't fill your pockets, but you can't possibly know what all those hightech cultivation methods do to the fruits. All we know is they're meant to bring the fruits to the supermarket, shining, blushing, untainted and looking irresistable. But what all the chemical substances sprayed over these orchards do in the meantime ... you'd better not try it out.
During this hike we got to walk over a real golf course for the first time in our lifes.
Somewhere between Ranst and Broechem the trail arrives at the castle domain Bossensteen. A winding forest path drops us at the edge of a golf course, surrounding the castle. We're impressed by the fresh-green carpet in front of us and we try to understand how our trail continues from here. Golfers are hitting balls, and it doesn't seem wise to enter the field amidst those flying bullets.
Nevertheless, the topoguide instructs us to cross the golf course along a freely accessible and public path. We hesitate and walk up and down close to the edge of the trees, looking for that path. We can't seem to find it. Fortunately a player signals us that it's ok to enter. He points towards the castle. We still don't see it, but moving fast towards the castle we get to a lane where the white/red signs appear again. We didn't feel at ease, but we had to trust that everybody could clearly see us and wouldn't take us for a couple of moving targets (holes doesn't seem like a good word here).
We wonder how many hikers turned back here.
The last 5 kilometers of the hike lead us along and over the river Kleine Nete and through the Kesselse Heide (heathland). It's not as impressive as the famous heathlands at Kalmthout, but it's protected and that's a good thing.
Summarising: this was a beautiful and surprising hike in a region that didn't seem interesting at all. Thanks to GR 12.
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