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Stadium car park, Allée Pierre de Coubertin.
(S/E) With your back to the stadium, follow Allée Pierre de Coubertin to the right. At the end, turn left onto the GRP® des Monts des Flandres and you’ll immediately come to a Fork in the road.
(1) Follow the path on the right. Pass the first junction and reach a second one.
(2) Follow the small road on the right towards Saint-Jans-Cappel and you’ll arrive near the church. Turn left, cross the stream and go round the church on the left to reach the D10 (staircase).
Follow it for a few metres to the left, before turning right onto Rue de la Blanchisserie.
Ignore the two streets on the left (which lead to a housing estate) and, further on, look out for a path branching off to the left (signposted with arrows and GRP®).
(3) Follow this path and turn onto the first track on the right. Pass the Hermitage and reach a T-junction (signposted ‘Houblonnière’).
(4) Turn right onto the GR® 128 along a wide path. Stay on this path until you reach a gate on the left leading into the woods (hiking marker).
(5) Go through the gate (be careful, there’s a bar at the bottom and one at the top). The path descends to a stream: this section is often very muddy and you’ll need to make your way along the numerous tracks that have formed. Cross the stream (not always easy) and begin the challenging climb. Almost at the top, you’ll find a path on the left.
(6) Leave the GR® trail, which heads off to the left, and carry on straight ahead to the gate. Go through it (watch out for the bar at the top!) and head off to the right. Walk past the military cemetery and reach the D223.
(7) A quick right-left turn takes you onto a path which very quickly reaches a junction with a cross-road. Take the narrow path opposite (south-east). At the junction further on, carry straight on along the tarmac road until you reach a Fork in the road.
(8) Turn left onto the path through the fields and head towards a gate in a spot that is often muddy. Go through the gate to enter Belgium.
(9) Stay on the path, ignoring the turn-offs to the left (gates). The path turns twice at right angles to the right and reaches the main road.
(10) Follow it to the right for about 200 m (with great care!), before turning onto a wide path on the left (house on the corner). You’ll reach the edge of a wood.
(11) Cross the log bridge and head along the edge of the woodland to the right (this section can be extremely muddy!). Reach marker 98. Turn right towards marker 99. You will then leave the woodland to descend across a vast meadow bordered by ponds (which is likely to be very wet at times). Join a small road at marker 99.
(12) Follow it to the right for about 200 metres until you reach a wine bar (Koudekot Wijnmaker: actually a winegrower with a terrace where you can sample his wines).
(13) Follow the small road to the left.
200 metres further on, you’ll come to a wide track branching off to the right.
(14) Take this wide track through the fields. Pass a farm and reach a T-junction (back in France).
(15) Follow the small road to the left. Further on, it turns right (at the border) and reaches a Fork in the road (signposted).
(16) Take the path on the right signposted GR®128 (follow this for a good while). Stay firmly on the path until you reach a large information board.
(17) Take a short detour to the left (if you wish) to see the modern sculpture, then continue along the GR®. Shortly after entering the Botanical Reserve, you’ll reach a T-junction.
(18) Follow the small road to the left until you come to a path on the right.
(19) Follow this country lane. After passing the edge of the woods, you’ll reach a small road.
(20) Follow it to the left until you reach a junction. Turn right, walk past a farm and reach a T-junction.
(21) Walk about a hundred metres to the right, then take the first small road on the left. Pass a junction and, 500 metres further on, you’ll come to a small road on the right (with a ‘No Entry’ sign).
(22) Follow this road (with a very cracked surface) for about 1.5 km in a straight line, before reaching a T-junction.
(23) Turn left for about twenty metres and you’ll come to a path on the right. Follow this lovely path until you reach Rooiestraete.
(24) Follow the road to the right (take care) for about 200 metres until you find a path on the left (green gate). Leave the GR® to take this path (entering Bellekindt), which runs alongside a barely visible body of water (on the left).
(25) At the junction, turn right to walk alongside another, more visible body of water on your right. (It might be more pleasant to go round the pond on the right to reach the other end of it?). At the end of the pond, you’ll reach a junction. Turn left and you’ll come face to face with a sports ground. Walk along the right-hand side of it towards the playground (with the cemetery on your right) and find the exit from the park (gate).
(26) Exit and cross the car park to reach Rue Paul Perrier. Follow it to the right until you reach a junction at the entrance to the cemetery (beautiful monuments at the entrance).
Turn left onto Rue des Sœurs Noires (where you’ll rejoin the GR® trail, which you should follow until the finish), until you reach Rue d’Ypres. Follow this road to the left until you reach the traffic lights. Cross the road and walk along the Grand Place (with a lovely media library on your left).
(27) In the middle of the square, look out for a coloured strip and follow it to the right towards the gate of the “Marché Traditionnel”. Walk to the church and go round it on the left until you reach the gate.
Opposite the gate, take Rue du Collège. About fifty metres further on, before the war memorial, take the path on the right (car park). You’ll come to a green gate.
Go through it to enter the stadium grounds (you can either take the small, steep flight of steps opposite or the circular path to the left). Go round a residential block (on the left) before you come to a building. Go as close as possible round it on the left and join Allée Pierre de Coubertin, then the car park (S/E).
great hike, not much tarmac, exactly as described.
Visorando Member
Moderate 
