It’s a long trek on foot to reach the Kindernouw, but it is a beautiful nature reserve that can only be explored on foot. The route there also takes you along the most scenic walking trails and paths through the broad Visbeek Valley. Though the stream is only as wide as a hop, this small flow of water is vital in this water-poor region of the Kempen. The water attracts a different kind of flora and fauna than those that thrive in the woods or heathlands.

Fortunately, the nature along the stream is excellently managed. In the forest you cross shortly after starting, you’ll pass over the stream for the first time. Following a winding country lane, you walk through a suburb of Wechelderzande. In one of the bends, you’ll spot the Monument for Karel Van Noppen. This is the place where veterinarian inspector Karel Van Noppen was assassinated in 1995 at the behest of the hormone mafia.

Beyond the E34 motorway, you reach the Kindernouw. It is an ancient natural landscape with low peat bogs, wet grasslands, hedgerows, forests, and ponds. The rich landscape diversity of this area is due to the Visbeek, which flows through it. Initially, the walk circles around the nature reserve, but further on, you enter deeper into the protected area.

Afterward, you walk back through the open landscape between Lille and Gierle to De Lilse Bergen.