16th September 2006. The GR12

Putte-Brasschaat. A stretch of the GR 12 just into Belgium. It was a bright sunny Saturday. At 10.45 the bus dropped us in Putte at a stone throw from the Ravenhof, a beautiful castle bathing in the morning sun and surrounded by a medium sized park. The sun still got filtered by some mist. It felt idyllic and was a very relaxing start. We were the masters of the silence.

We followed the WW1 anti tank ditch while the sun battered our heads at temperatures around 23 degrees Celsius. The ditch itself was marked with concrete bunkers but the surrounding water was clear and looked full of life. The abundance of trees provided enough shadow.
It was a big contrast with the posh houses with its Belgian and Dutch cars parked on the paved driveways. These houses and the tarred roads formed a background of our trip we definitely did not like.

The GR was not well marked on the Franselei so we walked an extra 2 kms. In the forest we fortunately retrieved the track which compensated for our pessimistic mood. The rest of the trip was fine again and at the castle in Brasschaat we left the GR which runs to Schoten and walked another 5 km to our car at the Donk church bus stop in Ekeren.

All in all a nice trip on a fantastic September day but unfortunately too much in a build up area.

Total distance covered: 28,9 km. GR12: 18 km.

Personal rating: **