Surprising Limburg

Na een eerdere aanvaring met onze afsluiting thuis (kon je lezen op de pagina “over ons”) rijden we op vrijdag 13/04/18 naar Lembeke - camping Malpertuus - op amper 20 km van thuis, kwestie van alles eens uit te proberen. Een camping waar een buurman een residentiele caravan bezit. Buiten een koude douche (boiler niet echt geschikt voor een lange douche, zeker niet op ECO-stand) werkt alles prima. Of toch niet, de schotelantenne werkt niet.

Bleek later dat ze verkeerd was aangesloten door een werknemer van Dicar Geel. De antenne was rechtstreeks aangesloten op het zonnepaneel in plaats van aan het 12V circuit. Bij levering werkte de antenne gezien er veel zon was en het zonnepaneel zijn volledige vermogen afgaf. Uiteraard, wanneer er weinig zon was, was er geen vermogen genoeg om de antenne te doen werken. Doch niet getreurd. Wij hebben steeds een harde schijf met talloze films mee op onze vakanties.

Lembeke is een zeer mooie locatie voor wandelaars. De “Lembeekse bossen” zijn nationaal bekend.
Uiteraard hebben we de bossen verkend. Het was wel nodig om stevige wandelschoenen te dragen, aangezien het de voorbije weken goed geregend heeft.

In de namiddag werd Dirk ‘opgeëist’ door Rik (onze buurman) om een paar spelletjes petanque te spelen!

Op vrijdag 04/05/18 vertrokken we vol goede moed voor een initiatieweekend voor beginnende kampeerders. Dit op Kompas Camping Nieuwpoort, en ingericht door Pasar. We laadden de motorhome zoals we op een 14 daagse reis zouden vertrekken. Met volle watertank en volle brandstoftank. Vooraleer we naar de camping rijden gaan we toch eerst langs bij een weegbrug. De openbare weegbrug in Aalter. Kostprijs 2€! Je raadt het nooit! Te zwaar geladen; 20 kg te veel! Volgende keer vertrekken met een 40-tal liter water i.p.v. een volle tank. Dat scheelt ook weer 80 kg. Hoe doe je het als je met 4 of 5 aan boord bent, fietsen en speelgoed in de garage en misschien een bak bier?

Het weekend was hoe dan ook geslaagd. Iedereen had een mooie plek, het was stralend weer. De mensen van Pasar deelden met heel veel inzet en geduld hun kennis en ervaring. Regelmatig werd voor eten en drinken, koffie en koekjes gezorgd. Op tijd en stond werd er ook goed gelachen, al dan niet met een mop of een of andere stommiteit van de leden.

Op zondagnamiddag wandelden we richting Nieuwpoort-bad. Aan de vismijn namen we de tram gezien het toch nog een eindje was tot op de dijk. Onder een stralende hemel liepen we langs de vele kraampjes! Het was braderie in Nieuwpoort. Vervolgens gingen we op de dijk uitwaaien.

Op 07/05/18 zat het weekend er op en tuften we terug naar huis, met een lege vuilwatertank en een beetje vers water. Geen overgewicht meer!

Kompas Camping - Nieuwpoort: Wij kregen een speciale prijs voor een comfortplaats. Een standaard camperplaats 60 m² kost in het laagseizoen 19,5€/nacht (elektriciteit inbegrepen). Voor Pasarleden is er een korting van 4€. Alle voorzieningen voor motorhome aanwezig. Prachtige grote camping met verwarmde zwembaden. Rustig. Strand gemakkelijk bereikbaar per fiets.

16th may 2021 - Covid-19 still determine life in 2021. Foreign travel is still strongly discouraged. Monique already received her first vaccination, but we decide to travel in our own country.
So, between doctor and vaccination appointments, we left again. This for a ten-day Limburg. A true cycling and walking paradise. A province where you will always receive a friendly welcome. You have a wide variety of landscapes and many regional products (Hasselt grain jenever, Loonse syrup, South Limburg sparkling wine, ...).

We also started the year 2020 in Limburg, namely in the Voer region. Now we visit the rest of the province. Via Haspengouw we drive to the Forestland and the Limburg Kempen. We will finish in the mining area.

It's cold and rainy. We have clothing for all seasons. On the highway in the opposite direction it was a veritable exodus of motorhomes. The end of an extended Ascension weekend. The first stop of our tour is in Haspengouw: Tongeren. The following nights we stay at the now almost empty Plinius Camper stopover park Tongeren. Hopefully we will have a few sunny days.

16^th May 2021 - Covid-19 still determine life in 2021. Foreign travel is still strongly discouraged. Monique already received her first vaccination, but we decide to travel in our own country.
So, between doctor and vaccination appointments, we left again. This for a ten-day Limburg. A true cycling and walking paradise. A province where you will always receive a friendly welcome. You have a wide variety of landscapes and many regional products (Hasselt grain jenever, Loonse syrup, South Limburg sparkling wine, ...).

We also started the year 2020 in Limburg, namely in the Voer region. Now we visit the rest of the province. Via Haspengouw we drive to the Forestland and the Limburg Kempen. We will finish in the mining area.

It's cold and rainy. We have clothing for all seasons. On the highway in the opposite direction it was a veritable exodus of motorhomes. The end of an extended Ascension weekend. The first stop of our tour is in Haspengouw: Tongeren. The following nights we stay at the now almost empty Plinius Camper stopover park Tongeren. Hopefully we will have a few sunny days.

In the afternoon we walk towards the centre. The road to it is steep up, extremely tough. We visit the Gallo-Roman museum. Despite the obligation to make a reservation (which we had done in advance), we were able to enter earlier than our reserved time slot. There were hardly any visitors. So plenty of room to view everything quietly and safely (where we were alone we got rid of the mouth mask to be able to read the texts without vaporized glasses). It is a beautiful and interesting exhibition. You walk through time from prehistory to the Roman occupation. Well worth a visit! It is a pity that there is no guide or brochure about the museum.
And after our visit ... our first terrace since the reopening of the catering industry. Luckily we sat under a giant umbrella and there was patio heating, because it started pouring water. Dry and warm we then step back to the motorhome.

Day 2
Today we walk through the city centre. A walk through two thousand years of history. We start along a piece of Roman highway to the temple site. A reconstruction of a Roman temple that graced the city 2,000 years ago. Via the old city walls we reach the centre of the old town. The statue of Ambiorix (the king of the Gallic tribe, the Eburones) watches over the “Grote Markt”.
In the past you could view the church treasures in the Basilica of Our Lady. Since June 2016, they have been installed in the Teseum, in a space of the ecclesiastical heritage site. But it is Monday, many shops and all museums are closed. Yet there is still enough to see to fill the entire afternoon. We will visit the beguinage with its narrow streets and cosy squares, the Agnetenklooster, etc.
During a heavy rain shower we enjoyed a pancake on a covered terrace. It shouldn't be more than that

Day 3
On the program today: shopping in Hasselt. Just outside the motorhome stopover we take the bus to the capital of Limburg. Although it is still in the morning, there is a pleasant bustle in the shopping streets. We also enjoyed the beautiful buildings, because Hasselt is more than just shopping. The Refugiehuis of Herkenrode, Het Sweert (one of the most famous houses in Hasselt). A renowned museum is the fashion museum, but it will only reopen its doors in July. After our tour of the city centre we went for a nice dinner at Max's on the Grote Markt.
Hasselt's best-known export product is jenever. In the middle of the 19th century there were 26 jenever distilleries in Hasselt. So a visit to the jenever museum should not be missed. The only remaining distillery from the time remains in the museum. Jenever is still distilled in the traditional way. It was really like going back in time seeing the old equipment. Of course we ended the tour with a nice tasting: a liqueur and a grain jenever. It's a pity that you couldn't buy jenever, except for two gift packages (cookies and a bottle of liqueur). A missed opportunity if you want to raise funds for a still working distillery.
A must-see place is the Japanese Garden. A quiet green zone in the centre of Hasselt. The garden is located along the ring road, but you would not be bothered by that. With its 25,000 m² it is the largest Japanese garden in Europe. We also had to pass up this visit. The garden will not reopen until July.

Day 4
We drive to Borgloon. A small cosy town in Haspengouw, the fruit region. There are immense orchards around the city. Apples and pears. At the end of the 19th century there were still large surpluses. What were they doing in Borgloon then? That's right… making syrup. And how could it be otherwise, Borgloon is known for its syrup, but currently no longer owns large syrup companies. The last steam syrup factory closed its doors in 1988. This restored factory now houses the fruit experience centre and a local produce shop. We parked in the large parking lot in front of the syrup factory and visited the centre (also booked in advance, just like the other museums we visited). The museum gives a wonderful picture of the origin and evolution of fruit cultivation and the many syrup factories in the area. And how an entire population lived on the proceeds. They had a lot of goodies in the local regional products shop. We bought our stock of syrup there.

Borgloon is also known for its works of art. The main attraction is the see-through church “readingbetweenthelines”. There were not many visitors, so we could see how the church blended into the area. A remarkable work of art. At the highest point of Helshoven we visited the floating chapel “helsheaven”. A work of art made of wood from 90 standard cherry trees of fifty years old. All those trees were affected by a contagious plant disease that caused undersized fruit on cherries. Very special! And from the chapel you have a beautiful view of the surroundings.

Day 5
Our intention is to take a walk in the "Hoge Kempen National Park" in the Maasland. But the park was completely closed by law enforcement. Hundreds of heavily armed police and military personnel were on the hunt for a dangerous soldier who might commit an act of terror and hide in the park. So we decided to divert to Bosland, with destination Lommel. We will settle in a spacious place at the Oostappen Blue Lake holiday park.
We walk around the lake on the domain for a while and otherwise we do nothing but enjoy ourselves. Rising storm clouds did not bode well. In the late afternoon it finally started to rain heavily.

Day 6
A nature reserve with a mysterious name is on our list: the "Lommelse Sahara". That miniature desert is not there by chance. It was created by sand mining in the 1950s. In that place there was perfectly fine white sand for the glass industry. We can easily park the motorhome at the sports centre “de Soeverein”. A few hundred meters away from the nature reserve. Equipped with sturdy walking shoes, we decide to follow the orange route. The signs indicate the direction perfectly. We walk past large pools of water surrounded by woods and moorland. We plow through arid sands with an oasis here and there. I climb the 30 meter high watchtower. At the top I have a beautiful view of the Sahara. We braved the sun, rain showers, strong gusts of wind that cut the sand into our faces. Nevertheless, we had a nice afternoon, a unique experience in an exceptional area.

Day 7 and 8
We have settled in Hechtel-Eksel. The first day it is raining cats and dogs; rain, wind, cold all day long. More than a short walk in the vicinity of the campsite was really not possible.
Luckily we saw the sun the next morning. We are in forest land, so a brisk walk in the forest in this vast area is on the program. The route in the forest “de Pijnven” starts immediately from the campsite. We walk past Limburg's greatest tourist attraction: "cycling through the trees". Since we were on foot we stepped between the tops of the trees. Literally a highlight. We combined our walk with the Forest Dwellers Route of 2.4 km. A route that is ideal for families with small children. She leads past wooden animals, such as the fox, woodpecker, a wild boar, ... that are hidden in the forest and can be searched by the children. After the walk we enjoyed our effort stretched out in a chair and a dash of sun.

Day 9
Walking in "De Wijers" (the Limburg name for ponds), a wetland area with more than 1000 ponds and reed beds. There are numerous walking and cycling routes. We are located in Houthalen-Helchteren.
Our route in the Wijers (again orange and a piece of yellow) starts at the entrance gate Kelchterhoef. We walk through the ancient and historic chestnut avenue.
Via the swamp path we walk past the old abbey farm Kelchterhoef and past farm Jan. We paused on the terrace of this old farm, which is now a catering business. The route continues past ponds teeming with life. We have seen very few waterfowl, frogs all the more. These could be seen and heard in every puddle. The croaking guided us to the concave-convex bridge, part of the multi-move path for children, where wet feet are not excluded when crossing the concave part. A little further on we cross the decking path. You walk on water. The path was unfortunately not accessible due to renovation works. We end the afternoon along the recreational lake "de Plas". The campsite "Binnenvaart" where we spend the night is located on this lake.

Day 10
May 25, our last day in Limburg, we spend in Beringen, a city located in the mining region. Specifically on BE-Mine. The place where coal used to be extracted. It is the name of the industrial heritage site where tourism, recreation, living, shopping and working now take centre stage. The Beringen coal mine opened in 1907 and was operational until its closure in 1989.
The weather was too bad to venture onto the mine slag heaps. After walking around the restored buildings we visited the mining museum. On the basis of, among other things, video images and testimonials, life above and below ground is explained. The tour ended in the basement where we walked through an underground simulation. Very special! There we were guided for a bit by a very enthusiastic ex-miner. He had worked underground for thirteen years. This at a depth of more than 800m. If he could go back in time he would do it again immediately.

After the museum visit we drove back home, where we reminisced about 10 days of surprising Limburg!

Plinius park – official motorhome parking - Fonteindreef, Tongeren – 24pl/11€ - electricity included, water: 5€/50l or 10€/100l - required to book in advance - Enter from 11 am, exit before 11 am. When you arrive you have to drive in front of the barrier. The barrier will open automatically due to number plate recognition. During the booking period you can drive in and out freely. Power is cut off when driving out and reconnected when driving in.
Please note, if you leave after 11 a.m. on the last booking day, the barrier will not open automatically and you must book an extra day. Centre: 2.1 km, Gallo-Roman Museum 1.4 km

Holiday park Blauwe Meer - Kattenbos 169, Lommel – €27.5/night (acsi) – all amenities – the camping site is more located – pitches on the lake are more expensive – the square where we stood has very large pitches – there is a large indoor swimming pool, restaurant, cafe, chip shop - were all closed due to corona measures - quiet campsite with many trees

Holiday Center De Lage Kempen - Kiefhoekstraat 189, Hechtel-Eksel – 17€/night (acsi from 2/4 to 12/5 and 24/5 to 3/7) – all facilities – we were on a motorhome pitch outside the campsite – paved places at the front of the campsite at the playground and at the parking lot - all facilities of the campsite can be used - walks through the forest (and cycling through the trees) start from the campsite

Campsite De Binnenvaart - Binnenvaartstraat 49, Houthalen-Helchteren – €18/night (acsi) – all amenities – nice quiet campsite with spacious pitches – walks depart from the campsite