Brecht, Maria ter Heide and Wildert

This route takes you through the Voorkempen, a regional landscape just northeast of Antwerp. The area is rich in forests and heathland, and during your tour you will also see many ditches and streams. In this agricultural area, which is located just before the Kempen proper, there are many farms where fruit and vegetables are grown. Although Antwerp is close by, this big city seems miles away. In this rural area you can forget the hustle and bustle of everyday life for a moment. In Maria-ter-Heide you cross the Antwerp Antitankgracht, an artificial watercourse that lies in a quarter circle (from north to east) around the city of Antwerp. The canal has a length of approximately 33 kilometers and is at least 6 meters wide. It was built in 1939 to stop German tanks and other vehicles. Nowadays the Antitankgracht is a nature connection area between various forests. There are aquatic plants such as large water plantain, snake root and bladderwort. Between Wuustwezel and Brecht you drive through the Groot Schietveld, a nature reserve that consists of a contiguous area of dry and moist heath, fens and hay meadows. The Groot Schietveld is 1571 hectares and therefore, after the Kalmthoutse Heide, the largest nature reserve in the province of Antwerp. Plants such as the heather and bog orchid, bell gentian and round sundew still grow there. There are many species of butterflies, such as the gentian blue, and a large viper population. As the name suggests, the Groot Schietveld is partly used as a military training area.