The Hannebroekpad

The Hannebroekpad (5 km) runs almost entirely over unpaved paths that can be loose and dusty at one moment, but can be full of puddles a few weeks later. The walk runs over forest paths, over (centuries) old sand tracks, over the field and over a maintenance path along the stream. A path along the route, now partly disappeared, was called the Hannebroekdreef by the farmers at Boschoven. You may hear the screeching of the hannebroek along the way. The Dutch name for this noisy, chatty bird is Vlaamse Gaai. That name has nothing to do with its origin, but is rather a corruption of gai flammant, a reference to the flaming reddish-brown colours in its plumage. In Flemish, a hanne is a tame magpie or someone who is conspicuously dressed, broek refers to the habit of making the nest in the broek of the tree, the place where the trunk merges into the crown.