Intro:
This was the last hike we did with the topoguide GR 129 Brugge - Ronse.
As could be expected from a hike in the Flemish Ardennes it turned out to be the best one. Panoramic views all over the trail, a reasonable mix of dirt roads and traffic roads, quite a few slopes (although never steep), nice places and enough possibilities for a pitstop along the way.
A great ending of the flemish part of this trail. Next time we'll tackle the walloon part of the GR 129 trail.
Back and forth:
We traveled by train from Antwerpen to Oudenaarde via Gent.
The hike started at the central market square of Oudenaarde. From the train station it's a mere 800 m. walk. If that's too much, then take a bus from the station to the market place. Almost all busses stop on the market square.
We had planned to end this hike at the Moulin du Cat Sauvage (reference point 46 in the topoguide). There's a stop there for TEC bus 89b (on Saturday at 3.47 and 5.47 pm.) to Ronse. We arrived at 4.30 pm and since we didn't want to wait that long, we hiked the additional 3,8 km. up to the station as described in the topoguide.
It's possible to end the hike earlier just past reference point 44 on the N48 (Ninove - Ronse). Bus 21 (De Lijn) stops there every hour and takes you to the station of Ronse. This will shorten the hike by almost 5 km.
From the station at Ronse there's only trains going to Gent, but from there you can continue in any direction.
The hike:
There's not much to report on this hike. We added it to our favourite hikes and that means a lot ...
(click the picture to see the full series on Picasa)
In Oudenaarde we cross the river Schelde and passing by Leupegem we immediately climb the hills of the Flemish Ardennes. The hike will lead us out of the Schelde valley and into Wallonia. The trail initially follows the well-known valley of Maarkedal (partly in and partly above it) up to Etikhove. From there it continues over the Taaienberg towards Louise-Marie. We hike through the Muziekbos (Music Forest) and come to the place where the GR 129 trail joins the GR 5A. One and a half kilometers further the trails separate and ours starts a nice flirt with the provincial and linguistic border between Oost-Vlaanderen and Hainaut. This hike ends in Wallonia at the Moulin du Cat Sauvage (a windmill).
All the way it seemed as if we were following an MTB trail. In fact, it was the opposite. Our GR 129 trail had been completely integrated into theirs. We found ourselves in the middle of the 4th Herdermarathon, an event organised by the local MTB club 'De Herders' over distances ranging from 30 to 130 km. Everywhere we met MTBs. Not that this was causing us any problems. On the narrow paths we just moved a step aside to let them pass and were always greeted with a friendly 'Dankuwel' or 'Merci', at least by the ones that had enough breath left to say something.
The long drought period had made the paths bone-dry and hard. Luckily, because the usually moist earth is immediately transformed into long slippery mudtrails when a few hundred MTB's pass over them in a few hours. Now the event caused almost no harm. They should thank the weather gods.
Near the end of the hike, starting at reference point 45, there's a change in the trail that's not mentioned on the website www.groteroutepaden.be. However, the change has been incorporated into the topoguide (edited by the walloon SGR organisation) that describes the GR 129 trail from Ronse to Dinant. In that topoguide reference point 2 corresponds with reference point 46 in the flemish edition Brugge - Ronse. Anyway, the field markings are well indicated, so you won't get lost there.
A beautiful day and a beautiful hike in a beautiful landscape. We're looking forward to continuing the GR 129 trail into Wallonia.
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