Walking through the Maarkedal

The Maarkedal is a popular hiking area in the Flemish Ardennes. This route takes you through the surroundings of the picturesque village of Nukerke. Afterwards you can enjoy the pleasant Flemish life in a local tavern.

Flemish Ardennes
The walk starts and ends at the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Ascension Church, which functions as a beacon in the landscape due to its high location. The church dates from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and offers a rather sober appearance by Belgian standards. There is also a beautiful presbytery and a beautiful nineteenth-century mansion on the church square. In and around the village, the many old farms and characteristic farms give your route extra cachet.

Hugo Claus
In the 1960s, the writer Hugo Claus lived in the outskirts of Nukerke, a village about which he wrote that'Christus has not yet passed\\\'. Claus could walk for hours in the rolling landscape. Just like him, you will see bushes, streams and undulating fields and meadows. There are often rows of pollard willows along the roads. It is wonderfully quiet here, so you can enjoy the views at your leisure.