Best way to discover Hasselt: by bike!
Cycling is a typical leisure time activity in Belgium, because the landscape is flat so it isn´t too strenuous. You can enjoy the nature, discover the surroundings and exercise your body at the same time. So many reasons to fall in love with cycling, as I already did. I started my first bike tour in Hasselt and discovered the Limburg Cycle Network.
Limburg is a small province in the North of Flanders. Its famous Tourist Cylce Network opened in 1995 and is only growing ever since. Its construction is based on the numbered nodes of the London Metro Network. So you don’t have to always follow the same route, you can switch between the connected cycling paths and create your personalized tour, wherever you would like to go and however long you would like to cycle.
Hasselt capital of Limburg and taste
Hasselt is the capital of Limburg, also named the capital of taste. And trust me they don´t exaggerate. It is such a great city in so much diverse ways, not only concerning food and drinks. The old town in the heart of the city has a lovely charm and offers a lot of shopping possibilities. It is surrounded by red stone houses in the typical Belgian style. Only a few minutes away from this city center you can enjoy the nature. There is a canal, a lot of ponds and woods. The diversity of the city makes it so special. On a cycle trip you can explore the variety of beautiful places around Hasselt.
The bike tour
We start on the green Boulevard, which is one of the two ring routes around the city centre of Hasselt. Our first stop was at the harbour, where a lot of houseboats and sailing boats are docked.
Our next target was the Albert Canal. This transportation waterway was built between 1930 and 1939 and is named after King Albert I from Belgium. With its length of 129,5 km it connects Antwerp and Liège. Nowadays it is one of the most important transport routes in the country. Bridges over the canal are being heightened at the moment, so they can allow four-stacked container traffic. We were pedalling our bicycle on the well-paved cycling path next to the river. But there are not only cyclists out there enjoying the sun. You also meet a lot of fishers and joggers.
Then the path led us to a road with houses so similar to one another they almost seem the same at the first glance — red bricks, green ivy, sunshine reflecting off the pavement. At the end of it we reached the Herckenrode Abbey. The 600 years old abbey of Cistercian nuns is surrounded by peaceful fields and woods. You can make a short stop and take a walk with 100 hectare of nature area, which belongs to the abbey. There is also an experience centre, a coach house and a little herbal garden.
The next stage on our route was the lavender plantation and farm, called Limburg Lavendel. There you can explore the fields, discover the shop and relax afterwards in the cafeteria. Especially in the right season of the year, when the lavender flowers and drenches the fields with its heavy perfume, it is a magical place you shouldn’t miss.
Together with its considerably diverse flora, the fauna also does not fail to impress. Apart from the fish in the canal you can also see wild animals, such as horses and sheep, standing in the fields, raising their heads curiously upon hearing the approaching bikes. Nature is still alive and real here, untouched and unburdened.
Our route took us back to the Albert Canal and we crossed it by a bridge. At the other side we came to an area with 1001 ponds, named De Wijers. We drove on small paths across the woods to get to see some of the ponds.
Practical Information
To get an overview of the huge amount of routes of the Cycle Network, you can buy a map, look at the online route plannes or use the cycle app for the smartphone. To make sure you stay at your planned tour, there are blue, easily recognizable road signs. The Limburg´s Cycle Route offers the best conditions for a perfeect cycle-tour, and that´s why it is called the Cycling paradise.
On the way across the nature surrounding of Hasselt, you get to know a new side of this lovely city. All these different areas, all these different surroundings, result in a region that is unique and a paradise that can only truly reveal all its secrets if viewed from the saddle of a bike.
