ショーモン-ギストウの天然記念物・トップ20

クリエイティブな展望ウォークが提供する「フレーム」は、背が低い方にはあまり適していません。フレームを使いこなすのが難しいからです。しかし、もちろん、このフレームとは別に、Laanvalleiの風景を美しく捉えることができます。

Already 304 years old? Time flies!

was very wet at the time of the walk

The "frame" through which you can photograph your framed landscape is part of the creative viewing walk. You can read more about this at https://www.overijse.be/creatieve-kijkwandeling (with PDF).

As the name suggests, the state nature reserve ‘Rodebos en Laanvallei’ is located in the Laanvallei. The Laan, as a tributary of the Dijle, is still one of the gems of the Dijleland and has cut into the plateau about 50m deep at the level of the reserve. On the eastern flank of the Laanvallei we find the Rodebos. The reserve is now over 100ha in size and is managed by the Agency for Nature and Forests (ANB) of the Flemish Community. The largest part of the reserve consists of a wooded valley flank with numerous springs. Because these slopes were also too steep for agriculture in the past, these flanks have always remained wooded and nature has been given every opportunity. That is why human intervention is kept to a minimum here. From the dry plateau and the adjacent valley flanks with springs we finally end up in the Laanvallei. Until the 1950s, a rather open landscape with hayfields and meadows interspersed with marsh, wooded areas and coppices was found here. Since then, many of these valley grounds have been planted with poplars or have spontaneously evolved into (swamp) forests. In the meantime, many of these poplar stands have disappeared again. The management is aimed at creating a valuable valley landscape with alder swamps, reed lands and wet hayfields. An important part of this whole story are the Hebridean sheep that can be found in the reserve all year round and contribute to its management. The Laan rises just south of Waterloo and flows into the Dijle 500 m north of the village centre of Sint-Agatha-Rode. Together with the Dijle, the Laan is one of the few rivers in Flanders that can still meander freely over its entire course. This naturally contributes to the high value of this area. Source: https://www.natuurstudiegroepdijleland.be/rodebos-en-laanvallei/

Here you already have the feeling of the Ardennes...

On top of the dune hill that is the Tomberg you will find a - currently partly broken - bench around an ever-growing tree where you can sit under. There is an information board and you are surrounded by heathland, a piece of grassland, sandy roads and during this period a beautiful sea of ferns.

The Tomberg is the second highest place in the forest (102 m). It is not a prehistoric burial mound (or tomb) as our ancestors thought, but a natural elevation, a dune mound that millions of years ago, together with the Mommendeel mound, actually protruded above the sea at that time. It is here that the illustrious forest court sat for hundreds of years. In the Middle Ages, every free man was in principle allowed to hunt without restriction in forests, meadows and swamps. The big exception were the free forests, the private forests of the dukes. Meerdaalwoud was such a free forest and hunting rights belonged exclusively to the Duke of Arenberg. At first the forest court was itinerant and justice was administered in the various villages. Later, a special building was erected here on the Tomberg for the court hearings. Later still, a hearing was held at Heverlee castle. The punishments were not lenient, but it is thanks to that forest justice that the forest still exists today and has not been sacrificed to the needs of the farmers and citizens in the area. The forest right came to an end with the arrival of the French in 1795. You can read this - and much more - at https://www.onroerenderfgoed.be/archeologische-fietstocht-heverlee