KOEKELARE MOUNTAIN ROUTE

Starting from the contemporary centre of Koekelare, this hiking route explores the green heart of the Woodland. A nice little nature reserve and two new trails soon take you to the flanks of 'the mountain' where a panoramic view extends from Ostend to Northern France. We look out across a relatively young cultural land that was laboriously reclaimed from the former, woody grounds and search for the cradle of the town.

Because of the creation of a couple of new semi-paved trails and the opening-up of a beautiful private forest on the top of the Koekelare mountain, this provincial hiking route is definitely a topper within the triangle Ostend-Diksmuide-Torhout. The new loop of about 6 km clockwise explores, among others, the beautifully installed village centre where numerous artworks and the somewhat surprising Sala Thai can be admired. Further, there are the Oosthof park, the cradle of the town and the Swal, a refined small nature reserve with rare flower vegetation and the 'mountain' itself, a spur of the Ruiden mountain and about 43 m high. As a conclusion the hiking route also passes the Mote park, a former castle domain. Anyone who would like a regional beer, can visit the Klyteput or one of the numerous terraces in the shadow of the brewery-malthouse Christiaen.