Saturday 3 May 2014
| Distance (km) | 20 kms | |||
| Distance (time) | 4.5 hrs | |||
| Hard / Soft surface | 20% / 80% | |||
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| Weather |
 16° 4 Bft
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The car drive to get to the end point on a Saturday morning is getting longer and longer and we have now passed the 2 hours limit. So we leave at 8:15 in order to park the car at 10:30 at the Cultural Centre in Lanaken. Luckily from there it is only a 20 minutes bus ride to Zutendaal where we arrive at 11:15. After the necessary stretching we are on our way again for the second-last stage of the Low Lands section.
While we were still in the car we discussed that we really hope to get onto soft tracks soon and indeed that is the case. At just 100m from the church we are already on a soft track and we will remain on soft tracks for most of the day. We enter the forest and for a couple of hours it's just a great walk through the forest. Sometimes dense deciduous forest, other parts sandy pine forest. A couple of open patches with some agriculture. Really a great stage with cooperative weather. And some height differences! We're not used to that and in spite of just being some undulations the fact that the track is loose sand nevertheless is enough to challenge our breathing. The last part we catch up with two other hikers who just put on their day packs when we pass. Result is that the last 6-7 kms we're being followed. At discrete distance, though. At hotel Kieuwit we slowly enter Lanaken and to have tarmac under the shoes is tough for a minute. After briefly passing through a residential area we again go offroad following a track passing in between some feasant breeding farms. Het looks shabby and not very nice for a walking trail. We're glad it's just a short part before we again enter a residential area in the direction of the church. After a short visit to a supermarket in the downtown of Lanaken we're back at the car. We have a cheap fill with petrol before heading for the camping site in Sint Geertruid where for the first time this year we'll pitch the tent. This is as far as we go with the first camping experience of the year because the restaurant of the camping gets unanimous votes over the 1-pan meal on a camping stove. |
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Download track ZutLan.gpx