Saturday 21st October 2006

A south westerly wind made the big pine trees sing. It felt a bit spooky. They were planted to cover the land dunes. A large section of the GR564 we did today ran through this kind of landscape.

We took bus 180 from Lommel and got out at Hechtel’s major road crossroads. It took some serious deduction to guess where to find the GR markings. Eventually we found them east of this little village. The signs where rather poor and the track followed tarmac and concrete roads. Not to our liking. After crossing the main Lommel Hechtel road from east to west we got into a military area and at a distance we heard the shooting. Somewhat further north we joined a newly made concrete road obviously created for cyclists and reached the huge and equally impressive German war cemetery of Lommel.

39000 Soldiers are buried here. We were told that each cross represents 3 soldiers. The entrance is a typical German contemporary building and the rather strong massive monument at the head of the actual grave yard made God part of the war. Most dead are boys just short of their twenties. So, probably only parents, by now already a long time dead themselves, were the main people who grieved.

This cemetery is a stark witness of the crime we call war.

We reached Lommel city app. 7 hours after we left Hechtel. This walk was about 26,5 km.

Personal rating: ** maybe *** in summer.

8-10-6 Staartse heide

It felt like summer apart from the thin mist which gently covered the fields in between the woods.
We left for Ossendrecht and followed a self made route using the new topographic map from Garmin. The churchgoers went home and contrasted with our hiking outfit and probably our appearance too.
North it went and soon we entered the pine forest from where drinking water was pumped to dryer areas. It was quiet and the pungent smell of the mushrooms made it more than clear: it was autumn.
After rounding the Zwaluw meer we crossed the main road from Bergen op Zoom to Antwerp and entered the "Staartse heide". My route went into a protected area and passed the foresters home. Not even the noise produced by walking on the gravel that surrounded the house apparently alerted anyone.
Obviously, the paths were hardly trodden and our conscious minds made the trespassers felt a little awkward. Just along the Belgian border we were in non reserved territory.
In 5 hours we covered almost 18 km on this most fantastic day hike.

Our rating **** (including the forbidden track) otherwise ***