Phoenix cycle route

The Reconstruction after the Great War 1914-1918. By the end of 1918, idyllic Diksmuide had been transformed into a desolate lunar landscape. The First World War had swept away villages and towns along the front in the Westhoek. The fields looked disastrous because of the many shell pits, mine craters, the war scrap, the piles of unexploded ordnance, trenches, bunkers and narrow-gauge railway lines. At the end of 1918, the first inhabitants returned in search of their place of residence. The first front tourists came in increasing numbers. Traditional architecture had to erase the traces of the war and restore the Westhoek in all its beauty. The Westhoek gradually rose, like a Phoenix from its ashes. In 2020, about a century after the early recovery, we reflect with admiration on the reconstruction, after years of attention to war and destruction. Visit the captivating and inspiring exhibition in the town hall (May 16 - Nov 15), the phoenix walk in the city center and go on a discovery tour by bike. Cycle past the most striking reconstruction sites in the countryside around Diksmuide. Did you know that some villages have not been rebuilt in the same place as before 1914? Farms and villages were given the opportunity to step into a new era with respect for the past. Discover this fascinating episode via the Feniks Cycle Route (37 km on the junction network).
These ladies did it almost a century ago as before.