The Belgian Forest Country

Just outside Lommel you will take a beautiful route through the Bosland: the largest forest in Flanders. You will ride through sub-areas such as De Blauwe Kei, the Waaltjesbos and the Kattenbos. Get on the saddle for a day of green enjoyment. You will ride along the Rauwse Meer, further on lies De Blauwe Kei: a nature reserve of hayfields, forest and marsh. How wonderfully quiet it is here, just like in the adjacent Waaltjesbos. This sub-area of the Bosland owes its name to the large influx of Walloon job seekers who settled here around 1800. The Kattenbos is a coniferous forest that lies around the Kattenbosserheide, one of the four remnants of what was once a gigantic Kempen heathland. As you ride between the Scots pines, you can smell a sweet, fresh forest air. Further on you will ride through the forests of the Pijnven and through the Dommel valley. You will cycle through the Keiheuvel, a coniferous forest that lies on a cover sand hill.