The source of the Peene at Sainte-Marie-Cappel

Park near the church.

(S/E) Start the route opposite the entrance to the church of Sainte-Marie-Cappel. Head to the right of the church; at the end of the cemetery, turn right, then take the first street on the left (Village Straete).

(1) At the Notre-Dame de Grâce Chapel, turn right then take the first street on the left (Chemin des Prés). Continue straight on towards the water tower, then at the three-way junction, turn right.

(2) Take the path that branches off to the right, slightly set back, then turns at a right angle and runs between the plots. This well-maintained path turns into a grassy track at a crossroads. Continue straight on, ignoring the new path that branches off to the right towards a farm. Follow the path until you reach another maintained track at a crossroads.

(3) Turn right. The path turns into a tarmac road after a farm and joins a road followed by the^GRP® des Monts des Flandres, which you should follow to the right.

(4) Pass a sign (on the right) indicating one of the Sources de la Peene. At the next junction, turn left, still on the^GRP® Monts des Flandres, then leave the^GRP® which branches off to the right towards Sainte-Marie-Cappel.

(5) After a bend, take the^first well-maintained grassy track branching off to the left towards a farm. Pass this farm. The track turns into a tarmac road after the farm until you reach a junction. Take the road on the right (there is slightly more traffic but the verge is wide).

(6) Turn onto the^first road on the left, which passes through the middle of a farm, then runs alongside the TGV line until you reach a junction.

(7) Cross a road and continue straight ahead.

(8) Just after a farm, where the road runs parallel to the TGV line, take the path that starts on the right (view of Cassel in line with the path).

(9) When you reach the road, turn right to return to Sainte-Marie-Cappel. At the next junction, continue straight ahead and, at the next junction, enter the fairly new neighbourhood on the left. The road turns into a path.

(10) Take the^first path on the right (^GRP®) towards Sainte-Marie-Cappel and head for the church once you’re back on a road (S/E).

A mix of roads and paths, very little traffic except for a short stretch with some road traffic (wide, passable verge).

- The Peene or Peene Becque rises at Cassel and Sainte-Marie-Cappel, flows for 24 km before joining the Yser at Wormhout.
- The village of Cassel.
- In Noord-Peene and Zuytpeene: numerous references to the Battle of La Peene, also known as the Third Battle of Cassel, which took place on 10 and 11 April 1677 and was the major episode of the Dutch Wars (1672–1678). This battle pitted the French army led by Philippe d’Orléans, brother of Louis XIV, against the combined forces of the United Provinces, Spain and England led by William of Orange. The objective of this battle was the capture of Saint-Omer. The victory of the French troops enabled the annexation to France of Saint-Omer, the castellanies of Cassel, Bailleul and Ypres—which had until then been possessions of the County of Flanders—and, more broadly, the Spanish Southern Netherlands.