Itinerary from Ad ((nl)Pad van Ad) | |
| Information | |
| Departure | Heverlee Arboretum |
|---|---|
| Steps | Heverlee Vaalbeek - Blanden Haasrode - Sint-Joris-Weert - Oud-Heverlee - Heverlee |
| Arrival | Heverlee Arboretum |
| Length | 26,5 km |
| Altitude | Between 60 and90 m |
| Country | .svg/20px-Flag_of_Belgium_(civil).svg.png){kind=small} Belgium |
| Region | Flemish Brabant, Land of the Dyle |
| Tourist information office | |
| Location | |
 50 ° 50 ′ 4 ″ N 4 ° 41 ′ 45 ″ E (Modified GPX file) | |
| Official site | |
| Touristic site | |
THE'Ad route is a walking tour in the country of Zuid-Dijleland (Country of the Southern Dyle) in Flemish Brabant, South of Leuven in Belgium.
Understand
Ad a's route 26,5 km in length (which can be reduced to 17 km by taking the shortcuts described) which goes through the Heverlee Wood and the Meerdaal Forest.
intended for hikers and cyclists. The route passes through the wooden trunk sculptures, created by sculptor Ad Wouters, the 2 oldest trees in the forest, as well as many other attractions and places of interest.
- Ad Wouters – The route as described here does not completely correspond to the description (in Dutch) that you will find on the site.
Theme
The theme of the road is the wooden sculptures of Ad Wouters, who is an artist with social and ecological motivations. When he was 13 he started working in construction. This is how he got experience with materials like plaster and wood. Later he began to work in the restoration of historic buildings. Unfortunately, an accident at work left him unable to work for days on end. But he took this bad luck as an opportunity to develop himself as a creative artist, with a preference for recycled materials.
This walk will take you to wooden sculptures and to a piece of metal wire filled with trash, which expresses our way of using too much plastic packaging. In Leuven there are still some wooden works, but also one by Saint-Michel, which looks as if it were made of metal, but in reality it is polyester, painted with a bronze tinted paint, to reduce the cost.
Network of numbered nodes for walkers
Tourism services of the province of Flemish Brabant have created a network of numbered nodes to guide walkers. These are used quite often in this description. However, sometimes it is just to point you in the right direction and these routes are not followed to the next node. The best is to look at the map included in the article and load the GPX in a GPS device. To visualize this network, you must activate its layer, which is named Hiking, in the included map. On this map the network with numbered nodes is shown in orange. The loop of the 'route of Ad' is marked in purple with the letters PA. shortcuts are marked PAB. But there are also other curls shown in purple. The color simply indicates the type of route (network, loop, long distance (blue)). To see where the buses pass, there is a layer called Traffic line network.
To prepare
It is a good walk, some will prefer to borrow it by bicycle. The road goes through forests south of Leuven. There are a number of interesting places and activities that are described, there is also a description of shortcuts along the way and an indication of the possibilities to catch a bus or train halfway.
To go
Bus 1 (De Lijn)
If you choose to walk, there is a way to take the number 1 bus to get to the starting point. Get off where the bus turns right into the Huttelaan 1 Jacht Stop . Each 60 min there is a bus leaving from Louvain station. The service operates on a daily basis. Sunday and public holidays included.
- Departure time from Leuven station: 2
- Come back to the Naamsesteenweg, then on the right, go under the E40 highway bridge, on your right you will see the entrance to theArboretum.
Bus 18 (TEC)
Line 18 (Leuven Station - Jodoigne) presents another possibility, its 3 De Jacht stop is on the Naamsesteenweg, get off just before you see the highway bridge.
If you take bus 18 there are also other possibilities. You could continue until the4 Weertse Dreef stop (you will see the pedestrian bridge).
From there you can walk back to the arboretum. This would reduce the distance to 9-14 km.
- Go under the bridge
- Then right into the Weertse Dreef
But it is better to continue one more stop further. (5 Sint-Theresiakapel , A little further on, you will see the Ecoduct), These 2 works are worth choosing this option. The length then becomes between 11-18 km.
- Come back a little and cross the Naamsesteenweg, then enter the forest via Walendreef. The chapel on your right.
- Departure time from Leuven station: 6
- Please note: on Sundays, the buses of line 18 have an interval of three hours.
Bus 5 (De Lijn)
There is also the option to take bus 5 (Wakkerzeel - Wijgmaal - Leuven - Haasrode - Blanden - Vaalbeek). You can take it up7 penultimate stop Brainestraat in Vaalbeek. (This reduces the total distance of 2,5 km).
- Please note: Sunday Bus 5 does not continue to Vaalbeek.
- Departure time from Leuven station: 8 .
- Carry on a little bit
- Then left in the Prosperdreef
Bus 337 (De Lijn)
And then there is line 337 (Leuven - Wavre) from De Lijn to / from 9 Don Bosco , 10 the Zoete Waters Where 11 Sint-Joris-Weert Church . On Sundays there is a bus every two hours.
- Departure time from Leuven station: 12
Train (SNCB)
Or you can take the train. Or at the 13 Oud-Heverlee station , or until the 14 Sint-Joris-Weert station . This is probably only interesting if you are already coming by train to Leuven, Wavre, Ottignies Where Louvain-la-Neuve.
- Departure time from Leuven station: 15
Circulate
- Where the E40 highway bridge crosses the Naamsesteenweg enter the arboretum Heverlee on your right. Three statues are in the arboretum.
The Leader
- The route begins at node number 66 in theArboretum
- go in the direction of 64
- then immediately to the right
- A little further you will see 1 on your right
Ignatius
- Continue and on your right you start the small path
- after a while it branches off to the right
- then on the left a small piece of path that connects two paths
- to the right
- At the T you will find three informative signs
- turn left
- to the left between the trees, you will see 2 We hardly see him, if we don't know he's there.
Neanderthal man
- Continue to the fork, where you go left
- Continue straight ahead, you come back to the network of numbered nodes
- Go to the right towards 65
- you arrive at 3
Bat
- Continue towards 65
- Start by following 603
- but at the crossroads of seven paths
- continue straight for 1,5 km by the Prosperdreef
- cross the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwstraat at Vaalbeek
- bus 5 goes through here, 16 the nearest stop is on your left.
- Go straight
- a little further, on the right you will find the 4
The owl
- continue straight towards nodes 120 and 121
- on the left, around 119
- Be careful when you cross the Naamsesteenweg
- A little south on the Naamsesteenweg Ad created a memorial for 5 , who died here in 2009 at the age of 22 due to a motorcycle accident. The statue is not part of the road. The style is different, much more sober.
- Continue towards 114
- At 114 the road there is a way to reduce the distance from the road by 3,5 km
- for this shortcut continue straight towards 113
- Then left on the Weertse Dreef
- The next path to the right on the Godendreef
- And the next one again to the right on the Walendreef
- For the full road, turn left at node 114, towards 115
- At 115 do not follow towards 116 nor 72
- but go south, or you will pass the 6 .
- Then you will arrive on the Weertse Dreef
The woodpecker and the bird that sings of happiness
- then to the left
- and then to the right by Milse Dreef towards 76
- to the right by Limietendreef and the Walendreef
- cross the Godendreef
- where you will find the 7 and 8
Coprins
- To shorten the route by 1,5 km
- continue straight on the Walendreef
- And immediately to the right on the Eleonorendreef
- To see the oldest oak tree in the forest, follow Dikke-Eikdreef and left a little further
- Cross the Godendreef one more time
- until you get to 9
- Continue to the right
- and again to the right in the Eleonorendreef
- up to the node numbered 113
- Then left on the Weertse Dreef
- Cross the pedestrian bridge towards 112
- Under this bridge crossing the Naamsesteenweg there are bus stops of the line 17 18 towards Leuven (or Jodoigne) . The last bus to Leuven leaves at 17 h 35 the weekend. In the other direction it's about twenty minutes later.
- then in the direction of 121
- In the Prosperdreef to the right
- And then immediately to the left
- A little further on you come across the network of numbered nodes again
- follow 111 to the left
- Cross the Weertse Dreef
- To shorten the route from 1 km
- go right at this point
- and follow the small path which follows the Weertse Dreef in parallel, but which is much more pleasant to walk towards Denteneerspad
- For the complete route, continue straight
- Then left a little further
- On a small cul-de-sac you will find the 10
- Continue on the main path, then to the right
- On the Nethense Baan again to the right
- and immediately left on the Denteneerspad
- c. 109
- To see two more statues
- follow on Jamaïcadreef to Walendreef
- there on the right
- At the end you will find 12
Balou
- Go right by Herculesdreef, it goes down steeply
- Cross the August Denteneerpad
- There is a 'ropes' course in the trees on your left
- Pass the Scout Field building By Kluis
- Cross the car park to the right
- To the waste container building on the left
- A little further you will see 13
Bosprotter
- Continue a little more, then right
- and again to the right
- to the left
- to the building on the right
- On the Herculesdreef on the left
- Now you are on the other side of the Speelbos Everzwijnbad
- where is 14 in the company of other totem poles.
Shipwreck
- For some 15, continue to node 108
- but our road continues straight north
- continue on Herculesdreef towards 19
- Just after the area where you can let the dogs run free, there is a lane on your right which was previously part of a military zoning, now it's more like a nature reserve. This path can also be taken in a wheelchair. Unfortunately there is not much of interest to see other than a road of 1,4 km long.
- At node 19 continue to 18
- 600 m to the east is a 16. Camping is permitted there. There is a pump, but the water is not drinkable. For good water you can go to Minnebron, 1,5 km North.
- continue towards 16
- You will pass La Chapelle O.L.V. van Steenbergen
- and a little further is 17 with drinking water
- Straight on for Wouters' latest creation. It symbolizes how we drown in the waste we produce. 18.
Don Bosco
- By continuing straight on Parnassusbergdreef after crossing Maurits-Noëstraat, it is possible to shorten the road by 1,5 km
- From here it remains 4 km to the starting point, 8,5 km to return to Leuven
- then 14, then 12
- By continuing straight on Parnassusbergdreef after crossing Maurits-Noëstraat, it is possible to shorten the road by 1,5 km
- But we still have one sculpture to visit, which is not part of the route as it is described on the Wouters site.
- To get there, retrace your steps and take the path between the pond and the source.
- At the corner of the pond the path turns right on 90, you continue there between the two ponds
- Cross Maurits Noëstraat
- Go up the hill to 14, there is a curve to the right
- at the top, to the left a little further
- Pass the car parks of OH
- At the football field to the left
- Cross the Waversebaan
- 18 Right here there are bus stops on line 337 towards Leuven or Wavre
- Enter the entrance to the Don Bosco Institute
- At the end there is a roundabout, next to you will find 23 to the right
Return to the starting point
- In front of the building follow to the right
- There is still a 24
- continue to the right
- on Don Boscolaan
- and return to the entrance drève
- Cross the Waversebaan
- and follow to the left
- go right into Sint-Annastraat
- continue straight until the node numbered 12
- then continue via 602 and 601
- a little bit towards 600,
- but at the first path on your right take the Damendreef
- until you return to the arboretum
- follow Grezweg to the starting point
Security
- Be careful when you cross the Naamsesteenweg at Blanden, the Weertse Dreef in the forest. The Maurits-Noëstraat in Vaalbeek and the Waversebaan in Oud-Heverlee are streets with a lot of traffic.
- In the evening, after your walk, it's a good idea to check for ticks (Ixodida).
Around
A bus of line 1 from De Lijn or 18 from TEC takes you to Leuven at the stop 19 From Jacht . Click on the link to see real-time transit times for De Lijn buses.
