Herentals, Lichtaart and Vorselaar

With this route you will discover the beautiful valley of the Kleine Nete. Along this river are a few former floodplains, which are home to the rare fauna and flora of wetlands. The system of floodplains is an old agricultural technique in which hay meadows along rivers were regularly irrigated with fertilizing river water. The irrigation resulted in a higher hay yield. In the second half of the last century, the Kleine Nete valley was canalized and the connection between the river and the hay meadows was broken. This made it very difficult for numerous plants and animals to survive in the Kleine Nete valley. Nature management is now trying to get the rare plant and animal species back here and they are doing very well. You will find plants that like to grow in very wet places along small rivers, such as mush thistle and long speedwell. The't Zomerklokje sub-area even grows the rare plant of the same name, which resembles a snowdrop. And the Nete valley is also home to waterfowl such as teal and blue heron. The starting point of your route is the town of Herenthals. Herentals is the'historical capital of the Kempen\\\' thanks to its rich past of more than 800 years and a wealth of ancient monuments. In a longer past,'cycling emperor\\\' Rik Van Looy ensured that Herentals became known with his more than 500 victories. It is a bustling city with a busy center and numerous nice restaurants and cafes that ensure that you will never be bored here. A perfect spot for a cup of coffee before the day starts! With this route you will not only encounter a lot of nature, the cultural highlights are also worthwhile. In Vorselaar there is a water castle called the Borrekens, which was built around 1270 by the Knights of Rotselaar with white sandstone from Vilvoorde. Later it was surrounded with stone ramparts. After a beautiful rural route through, among other things, the Goorkes nature reserve, you will eventually cycle back to the starting point along the Bocholt-Herenthals canal.