(Klein) Willebroek

Excellent (cycling) weather for the first time this year on Sunday. Time to go for the first longer distance:

Without a concrete aim where to go we started out towards north to cycle along some of the waterways up there. Starting along the canal from Brussels via Vilvoorde towards the Schelde. As of Tisselt there is no more cycling path along the canal, so we decided to follow the knooppunten into Willebroek. At the main bridge in Willebroek turn right to follow the signs towards Klein Willebroek. This charming little village with a small leisure port, an old lock a few nice cafes/restaurants is also a good destination to get out of Brussels for a Sunday afternoon. It is also close to the recreational areas "De Naeyer", the "Broek or Arkenbos" or the "Hazewinkel". All of this makes a nice getaway from busy Brussels parks like Tervuren or la Cambre with nice walks like this one.

There is also an American tank that commemorates the Second World War when the bridge of Willebroek over the Schelde was crucial to reach and liberate Antwerp.

Back along the Zenne it would have been nice to stop at one of the cafes next to the river (like this one at the "Zennegat" which I can really recommend). Overall quite similar to this ride but shorter.

Albertcanal

I did this tour some weekends ago but so far didn't find time to post it. So here it is: to the Albertcanal and back:

at Zennegat (http://bit.ly/1yMXsqe)

It sounded like a good idea: cycle along some waterways to Lier and further on to the Albertcanal and back along some former railway tracks that have now been turned into a cycling path, towards Aarschot - and then some more cycling along the river of the Demer. So far so good. The way to Lier is flat but far from boring (same as in this tour). The scenic car-free path along Zenne and Nete to Lier is still one of my favourites.

From Lier I followed the "Kleine Nete" River to the Albertcanal.
 

This was an excellent 20k or so of cycling, all along this winding small river. Really great, but a bit far from Brussels for an everyday ride.

Similar to cylcing along Zenne or Nete to Lier but with far less cyclists/pedestrians. And also no villages to cross, so it was more or less 20k straight on, full speed. Great stuff.

There are some beautiful old locks along the Kleine Nete - and a bigger one when reaching the Albertcanal. Apparently the river continues flowing underneath the canal (don't ask me how that works). Belgians surely have some expertise when it comes to inland waterways.

The Albercanal is quite a change to the canals around Brussels. It's massive. Really. And lots of traffic.  Cycling is so and so. Due to the heavy vessel traffic there's lots of industrial sites along the canal. Not scenic, no good tarmac and so on. But it's just for 10k or so. Quite bearable.

the Albertcanal

cycling path following the alignment of an old railway line

After the Albertcanal I was already looking forward to speeding along the old railway line down to Aarschot. But the cycling path allowed all but speeding. Not because of too much traffic but because of slowing down every 500m or so when crossing a road because of barriers on both sides of the crossing. In addition the trees to either side of the path were great for some shade on this hot day but their roots had already ruined the tarmac and made the path quite bumpy.

The way back from Aarschot was much better then. Along the Demer. A perfect, brand new cycling path, all the way to Werchter village.

The Demer close to Werchter (http://bit.ly/VmKDUw)

If it hadn't been for the headwind all the way back to Brussels would have been a piece of cake.

Lier

The spring-like weather last weekend was excellent to go for the first >100 km tour this year. A very much needed training for the 250 km Ronde van Vlaanderen in one month time. At the same time I was a little ill the week before so going a lot of up-and-down would not be the best idea. So, flat waterways again. When will I ever go to the rolling hills of the Pajottenland again?!


The link to the track.

Bernd joined me on this one. We left via Vilvoorde and on towards the Jagdpad starting in Hombeek. Until then not much new. I know the way there blindly by now I believe. Still it is one of the best routes for cycling. When arriving at the "Zennegat", instead of cycling along the Rupel we decided to go along the Nete towards Lier.

In Lier, we started to go back via the famous "fietsknooppunten", starting from punt no. 30. Again this took us along some waterway but I have no clue which little winding river that was:

The way back via knooppunten 30-28-72-49-35-36-37-01-74-73 until Boortmeerbeek was some of the best knooppunten route so far. All well paved with little freaky cycling path bits or suddenly unpaved roads. No changing direction all the time. Really excellent if it wasn't for the headwind that got strong, especially along the boring all-straight Haachtsesteenweg back to the airport and into Brussels.

All togehter certainly one of the best "boring" flat routes with a total of maybe 250 m "climb" (on 111 km in total). Could even be a rival to the so far favourite Zenne-Rupel-Schelde route.

Along waterways...again

I know I posted some rides along various waterways - rivers or canals - before. But the flat terrain without any hills is just too good for basic training to get into shape for the season. So again a route along Zenne and the Mechelen-Leuven Canal I did some days ago.

Starting out towardsVilvoorde,the first waterway is the Brussels-Rupel-Schelde canal. Nothing special and quite industrial surroundings. It's Vilvoorde after all.

In order to go to the Zenne, follow the signs "Canal Route" after the first lock on the canal. When you reach the railway tunnel. Now turn left, through the tunnel, and immediately right again and follow "Kleinestraat" until Hombeek. Here the nice Jagpaad (see also here) starts. All the way up to Zennegat, where Zenne, Dijle and the Leuven-Mechelen-Canal join forces to become the river Rupel which only some 10 km afterwards flows into the Schelde. A typical "Belgian solution" if you ask me.

Now back towards Mechelen:

The Canal near Mechelen

Cycling back along the Leuven-Mechelen Canal might seem boring to some. And it can in fact be boring. But it's a good way to exercise without stop and go - without cars along some beautiful landscape:

Leuven-Dijle Canal

I decided to do some short cut and not ride all the way to Leuven. Possibly had enough of all that waterways. Cycling back along the usual HSL-route track and into Woluwe. Looking forward to that tour in summer. Although it can get quite crowded on the cycling path.