ヘーレントハウトの湖・トップ20

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Kesselse Heide was a popular location for military exercises. It was used successively by the Belgian army (specifically the Achterbist region), during World War II by German soldiers, and in the post-war period by the Allies. Locals would sometimes "play" with the soldiers as children, participating in exercises such as quickly reassembling a weapon. However, from the early 1950s onward, the fun ended: the start of the Korean War and more frequent exercises led to stricter rules. Perhaps for the best, as the soldiers had access to heavy artillery. The heath contained several gun pits, part of the defense line around Nijlen. The famous "Horseshoe Pit" was one of them. This pit was originally circular and was (possibly) dug during the First World War to wash the soldiers' horses. Later, a small land bridge was added, making the island in the middle accessible. For many locals, it served as a beautiful swimming hole and a place for summer recreation.

Nice story about rivalry between local youth from surrounding villages

A beautiful location where you can enjoy the peace and quiet and nature. In autumn, you'll be treated to a riot of autumn colors.

This highlight, located near a beautiful pond, is situated in the large nature reserve 'Het Goor - Asbroek'. Het Goor, which with its regular canal pattern and many water features reminds us of the peat extraction in the 18th-19th century, is an ideal location to press the pause button on one of the rare benches and replenish your burnt sugars. Historical explanation - what is peat? Peat is dried peat that was dug from the marshy peat areas. The extracted peat was laid out to dry and then used as a raw material. The dried product peat was the most important fuel in our region for centuries - from roughly the 11th to the 18th century. The nature reserve 'Het Goor-Asbroek' is now a large marsh area. Here you can enjoy one of the exceptional botanical top areas in Flanders for hours while walking or slowly pedaling.

Beautiful swamp forest, difficult to capture in photos or describe in words, but definitely worth cycling through.

Het Zwart Water is a nature reserve southwest of the town of Lichtaart, which is part of the Antwerp municipality of Kasterlee, located near Lavendelweg 1-3. The area is managed by the Agency for Nature and Forests. The area is located on the Kempense Heuvelrug and consists of a fen that used to be in a drifting sand and heathland area, but was largely forested with conifers during the 19th century. On the edge of the fen you will find bog myrtle thickets, willow swamp forest and poor grassland. There is a floating dome in the fen that forms a safe resting place for birds. The forest is gradually being transformed into more mixed forest. In addition, there are remnants of heathland.

Beautiful fen and nature around it, take a seat on one of the benches and enjoy the silence and the sounds of nature. But the fen is also the ideal location for mosquito larvae, so some precautions are recommended.

There is an information board near the water feature. It is called the 'horseshoe pit' because it has a horseshoe shape. It is not known for sure why the well is there, but the information board does give the hypotheses and tells how the youth once came to play here and generations of Kessel residents learned to swim when it was still called 'het visputteke' (and there was even more water in it). More on the information board with the photos.