After a long time of almost no sport, i started this year again with hiking. I used to hike in earlier days in the Swiss mountains, but now i’m living in Belgium, where a great hiking community lives. I hike mostly on my own, but I like attending guided trails, too.
Here is a list of some really nice guided trails in Belgium, which I like to recommend. On most of this guided trails you have several checkpoints, where you get different kind of foods or can get help if needed. Some of this trails offer to transport a bag to the half-way checkpoint and back again, so you can get fresh clothes in the middle of the trail.
I already did some of them, others are on my bucket list for the next year:
Hagelandse 101 – 101 km
- 2025 –> 5 extra km
- 101 km through villages and nice nature
- the trail starts in Leuven at the evening, the walk during the night makes it an extra special experience
- the terrain is gently hilly but not too steep – ~ 700m elevation
- the trail consists of a lot of natural paths. Some parts are on public and open streets, but nowhere dangerous passages.
- ~ 3000 attendees, just enough
- a highly recommended event
- the special thing is, that your kids can walk with you the last 11 km and you can end together
Molse 60 – 60 km
- nice nature trail
- starts in the early dark morning, through forest – i like it
- the trail consists almost exclusively of natural paths
Dodentocht – 100 km
- a trail with ~ 13’000 attendees – perhaps to much
- the trail starts in the evening, the walk during the night is nice
- cross several villages
- party atmosphere in every village until 5 in the morning
- the terrain is really flat ~ 120m in elevation
- the trail consists of a lot of cobblestones and asphalt
- very well organized, all streets closed
Abdijen Tocht – 33 km
- between the abbeys of Averbode and Tongerlo
- on a different way back
- there is the possibility to do only 1 part (16km)
Venntrilogie – 109 km
- not a guided trail, but a very well signed nature trail
- can be splitted in 6 parts
- i did 4 parts: Eupen – Signal de Botrange – Malmedy – Robertsville – Bütgenbach
- the terrain is partly pretty steep and the elevation is around 1900m
This trails are still on my bucket list for the next year:
- AG Belgium Coast walk – 80 km
- Antwerpse Kempentrail – 55 km
- Boslandtrail – 100 km
- trail through the “Bosland”, a really nice nature environment
- Brussels 60 – 60 km
- De Vlucht 14-18 – 100 miles
- the route follows the escape route of 1914-1918 from Turnhout (BE) to Uden (NL), which is about 50 miles and then the same way back again. You can do it also only one-way, starting in Turnhout or Uden.
- National Park Marathon – 42.9km
- Trans Limburg Trail – 65km
Some of the above trails are made for runners and walker. cause of my condition, I will not run them but i walk with an average speed of 6.5km/h.