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During this 35-kilometer cycling tour you will discover the southwest of the Belgian province of West Flanders and the city of Ypres, which has a lot of history.

Historic Ypres
The cycle route starts on the Grote Markt in Ypres. Ypres is best known for the battles at Ypres during the First World War. A few months after the German invasion of Belgium on August 4, 1914, the front came to a standstill at the small, medieval town. The first battle of Ypres was a fact. Several more gruesome events followed, and nearly half a million people were killed in the trenches and in the no man's land around the city between 1914 and 1918. During the four years of war, the city in the heart of the Ypres Salient was literally razed to the ground. The last remaining inhabitants were compulsorily evacuated in early May 1915. From then on, no one lived in the ghost town of Ypres.

Reconstruction Ypres
At the beginning of 1919, the first inhabitants returned to the destroyed city and the reconstruction of the original medieval fortified city began. In the 1920s, more than one hundred and fifty military cemeteries were also laid out in and around the city and monuments were built, the most important of which was the Menin Gate. To this day, these monuments and cemeteries are reminders of the most tragic period in Ypres' history.

Nature reserve Palingbeek
Along the way you cycle through the beautiful Palingbeek nature reserve, which lies between Hollebeke and Voormezele. Pools and marshes, old and young forest, orchards and flowery grasslands, sunbathing areas or a playground alternate. A wonderful ending before you cycle back to Ypres.