Limburg Node-to-Node

Day Four

:: Sunday, May 22 ::

 Genk to Pelt

about 74 kilometers

Each day begins with Kristin checking the hourly weather forecast so we could adjust the node route as needed. But today, sunny and warm was the perfect May day and because it was Sunday we shared it with hundreds of other cyclists of all ages and, as best we could tell, no other Americans.

We stopped in Genk at Mine-C. Here the Power House and property of the Winterstag coal mining site, which operated from 1917-1988, has been renovated into a creative community arts hub.

In the shadow of two preserved pit towers are an art school, artist studios, museum, restaurants, and cultural center with a full schedule of movies, concerts and exhibitions.
Today lots of beautiful scenery : crops, grasses, forests, small villages, farms, new views around every curve of the winding route. We sampled a popular snack food menu item in Hechsel-Eksel. Bitterballen are small Dutch meat-based breaded and fried balls, usually dipped in mustard or ketchup. It is hard to stop after one or two.

A key destination spot for us and many other cyclists today was "Biking through the Trees"at node 272, located in the area called Bosland, which refers to the largest uninterrupted forested area in Flanders ( the Flemmish speaking part of Belgium). 

Up to 10 meters high into the trees on the 700 meter double-circle path...what an enjoyable experience!

Close-by in a wooded, more solemn setting, 

we walked into the German military cemetery where 39,000 WWll German soldiers who died in Belgium are buried.

At the end of our ride today, the Bocholt-Herentals canal led us into Pelts where we spent two nights in a lovely, well equipped apartment. Bob and I were unable to win our evening bridge games against the sisters.

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Nodes for Day Four

560-249-72-73-548-74-75=317-

538-539-273-274-05-517-516-515-

258-257-272-255-254-253-241

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Link to Limburg day 5