Aalst, Denderleeuw, Ninove

Park the car at junction 83 de Bruulstraat in Haaltert. When you're ready, set course for the city of Aalst. Folklore is alive in the cities on the Dender river. Aalst has been living in rivalry with its northern neighbor Dendermonde for centuries and is jealous of the Ros Beiaard from Dendermonde and has invented its own ros Belatum with the crazy draeckenier. After a ride of 7 kilometers you cross the Dender. The Dender meanders fairly flat through a green landscape. It is surrounded by low-lying lakes, with alternating natural wetlands and poplar plantations. Originally, the Dender was a strongly winding river with fluctuating water levels. It is mainly fed by rainwater and is usually calm, but after a heavy rain the water can rise very quickly and flow very fast. As early as 1185, the Dender was made suitable for shipping and during the 19th century all kinds of new branches of industry were created: in Ninove and Geraardsbergen the match factories, in the entire Dender region the textile and food industry (including breweries), in. But the green surroundings of the river also have an enormous attraction for tourism, as a result of which the economic function has shifted more towards a recreational function. Nowadays you will be passed by a pleasure yacht more than once while you enjoy beautiful roadside plants such as the evening cuckoo flower, hollow pipe, pennywort, forest field cherry. Marsh bedstraw, water plantain, the small and large rattle, field lathyrus, woodrush, and wood orchid, just to name a few. Anyone who thinks that handball is a purely Frisian affair is seriously mistaken. This sport is widely practiced in the summer in the Dender cities. According to the archives, the sport was already practiced on a large scale in the year 1335. Nowadays, handball is a dying folk sport that is practiced regionally.