Intro
This is a copy of our report on a previous hike on the GR 5A trail. In between Wijtschate and the entrance to the Palingbeek domain, the GR 128 and GR 5A trails are the same. So, when later on we started hiking GR 128, we decided to skip this part.
On a grey but dry tuesday 15/7/2008 (in the midst of the holiday period) we continued our journey on the GR 5A trail starting in Wijtschate.
Back and forth
From Antwerpen by train to Kortrijk, then to Ieper. In Ieper we had made a reservation on the on-call bus Ieper Zuid. We arrived in Wijtschate a little after midday.
From Geluwe we again called upon the on-call bus service to get us to Wervik. From there we got to Kortrijk where we continued to Antwerpen.
The hike
Threatening clouds, gloomy light, a completely motionless village ... it looked as if it was only 6 am. There was no excuse to hang around here, so we started off on our hike.
(klik op de foto voor de volledige reeks op Picasa)
Through the fields we took the direction of the provincial recreation area Palingbeek. Up to the entrance of that domain our GR 5A trail coincides with the GR 128 trail (Flanders trail).
Before arriving there we passed by a forest edge where a blooming potatoes field had unrolled a purple carpet for us. A nice view. Past the entrance of a castle domain, our trail runs along the fences of a golfcourse. Then we get on a nice path through the fields, offering us wide views over the western-flemish plain.
After almost 7 km. we're at the entrance of the Palingbeek domain. Time for a picknick next to the idyllic little pond, complete with air-catching fish and mother duck with her offspring. But don't get mistaken, in reality this used to be a bomb crater, turned into a nice looking country painting by mother nature and a little human help.
On the history of the Palingbeek domain, lots of information can be found on the internet. Let's just say that today it offers us a 7 km. long stretch of forest where birds, plants, smells and colors conspire in an overwhelming attack on all your senses. It's a wonderful hiking path, but we can imagine that under better weather conditions and in the weekends, it can get quite crowdy here.
In Hollebeke we deviate a little from our trail to get to the center of the village, but there's nothing open here. The GR 5A trail now follows the railway track Kortrijk – Ieper – Poperinge. When our trail should leave the railway (at reference point 30) there's a change in the itinerary. We continue to follow the railway up to Houthem and enter Walloon territory. Despite all the political upheaval of the past few days we're still greeted with a friendly Bonjour. There's clearly a gap between the political talk and the way people live their lives ...
The rest of this hike leads us through a landscape of fields. Far away, the church towers of Zandvoorde, Ten Brielen and Kruiseke are visible. Near the hamlet Amerika we again enter Flanders territory. We're approaching the little town of Wervik, and that means the tobacco region. Besides the region of the Semois river, this would be the only place in Belgium where tobacco leaves are still grown. However, we didn't spot any of them. We did notice a few ruined drying places between the farm buildings on our trail, but that's it.
And that's how our last but one hike on the GR 5A trail ended at the road Geluwe – Wervik. After a short wait, our on-call bus arrived and got us to the train station at Wervik. We traveled to Kortrijk, ate a pizza there, and got home in Antwerpen by 10 pm.
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