Belgium’s eastern Limburg province is a cycling paradise. It’s not only the 2,000km of mostly car free cycle paths criss-crossing the region, but that they have inventively added unique art installations-cum-cycle infrastructure along sections of the cycle network. The 212m sunken cycle path that slices through the middle of a lake at Bokrijk near the old mining town of Genk, is one of the most sublime of them all.
In the calm early morning with mist still rising from the surrounding landscape, Cycling through Water is a simply stunning experience. The route from Bokrijk train station goes through silent woodland and past small ponds before suddenly descending into the lake itself. Cycling at eye level with the ducks and swans on the lake is just a little bit magical.
Limburg has created numerous routes that link museums, artworks, industrial heritage sites, pretty villages and the region’s historic towns, but you can also adapt these using the innovative Fietsknooppunten system of numbered nodes. With a little adaptation, I cycled the route called Cycling through Water and Heathland. It took me along rolling forest paths and through purple heathland to outdoor sculpture parks and former mining sites.
After the excitement at the lake, I cycled through peaceful pine woods to the outskirts of Genk and a truly extraordinary enterprise combining art, conservation and community regeneration at LABIOMISTA. The brainchild of local, internationally recognised artist, Koen Vanmechelen, it’s a fascinating open air sculpture park ‘genetically’ crossed with a philosophical and scientific experiment.
LABIOMISTA will get its own post, but I spent a happy couple of hours here before getting back on the bike and heading to the village of As. I passed through attractive heathland dotted with the telltale slagheap ‘hills’ that are the remains of this regions coal industry. Mostly these areas have been reclaimed by nature and are now biodiverse reserves with walking trails.
After the open landscape of the Terril Waterschei nature reserve I was back in the woods. The route follows an old railway line that in June 1944 was the scene of doomed heroics. A British Lancaster bomber en route to Germany was shot down here. To avoid crashing into As village, the pilot, Penry Guy ordered his crew to bail out before crash landing his plane loaded with bombs onto the railway line. He died but the crew survived.
The old railway station at As is now a cafe popular with cyclists and hikers, that makes a good stop before cycling into Hoge Kempen National Park and the colourful heathland of Mechelse Heide. Here I cycled over another iconic feature of Limburg’s cycle network, a 294m meter long, 30m high wooden ‘sky bridge’. The Fietsen door de Heide bridge itself is great, but views from the top are perhaps even better.
Plunging back into the forests I set off to the village of Zutendaal and then back towards Genk. It was a hot and humid day, the shady woods were a real pleasure but it was way more ‘undulating’ than I’d anticipated. I was pretty tired by the time I reached another inventive feature of the route, a spiral ‘elevator’ in Molenvijverpark on the outskirts of Genk. You cycle up the spiral to reach a bridge over a big road.
My final destination was almost in sight, and it didn’t disappoint. C-Mine is the former Winterslag coal mine, a vast mining complex that began operations during the First World War, finally closing its doors in 1988 with devastating effects for the local economy and community. Now the two towering headframes that once winched men and coal up and down tower over a brilliantly rejuvenated arts and cultural site.
This is how to do industrial heritage well. There’s a good museum that relates the history of the mine, including the chance to go underground. Above ground there’s an excellent brasserie that brews its own beer, a restaurant, a venue for music and theatre, a cinema, as well as the campus for the School of Arts. I sat down, ordered a beer and checked what other Limburg cycle routes I could do. This is a fascinating area for exploration.
Wow the sunken cycle path looks so trippy! I am going to bookmark this and keep it for next when I am in Europe, its now on my must-cycle list
It’s a fantastic place, very tranquil on an early weekend morning as well.