Durme River & Moervaart: Tielrode - Lokeren - Terdonk (35.5 km)

Mira Bridge after restoration
Source: Karel Roose

From the Schelde there is excellent bike path on both sides. A few hundred meters from the Schelde is the Durme ferry. The first bridge (Hamme) is about 2.6 km further. Much of this area is nature preserve. 200 m west of the Hamme bridge is an older, rotating bridge called Mira. It was reopened to pedestrian/cycle traffic on 18 January 2003 after a two-year restoration project. The bridge is named after a character in the 1927 novel de Teleurgang van de Waterhoek (the decline of the Waterhoek) by Flemish author Stijn Streuvels. It dealt with impact on an isolated farm community (Mira was a farm daughter) of the construction of a bridge in 1905-6. The novel's site was on the Schelde but when a movie named Mira was made from the novel in 1971 the original bridge had been replaced and it was decided that this bridge was the most appropriate. It was thereafter known locally as the Mira Bridge - a title now made official. The reopening ceremony included the actress who played Mira in the film. (News of reopening from Karel Roose January 2003)

On the south bank, 600 m west of Mira bridge you encounter a sports ground and have to turn away from the river. A service road takes you in 200 m to a major road. Turn right through Hamme, and then at the first real road to the right (about 900 m) turn right back to the river.

A detour into Waasmunster provides little but a pleasant small town - and a few pubs. The name stands for marsh monastery, and apparently the first Christian establishment in this area was here. Little remains. The church is an odd mixture: west tower 1430, choir 1617 (both stone) and nave 1844 (brick).

From Waasmunster west there is no paved towpath on either bank for several km. The most pleasant route is to the north of the river. From the Waasmunster bridge go north on the highway (N446) bike lane for 300 m to the first place you can turn left. Turn left (bike lane) and follow the road for slightly over 2 km, to about 200 m past a Texaco gas station. As you approach the E17 motorway, turn left. You now have 2.7 km of service road through fields and along the E17. The highway is on an embankment and does not intrude too badly on the tranquillity of the countryside. The Durme meanders not too far to your left (south). You return to the Durme dike at the bridge that carries the E17 over the river. (GeoCart shows a river crossing just south of the E17, but I could find no evidence of any such.)

The next section is delightful - fine paved towpath through a nature preserve with occasional interpretative signs (Dutch). Soon after you pass under the E17 a large lake complex (called the Ham) comes into sight - a sand/gravel pit. Excavation continues on the east and north but the rest is now dedicated to recreation and nature. The river here is a narrow ribbon at low tide. You could walk across, if the mud were firm enough.

About 2.4 km from the E17 is a dam, and on the right (west) bank a sewage treatment plant. You can if you like cross to the south bank, which also has a fine paved towpath that extends back to the E17 and onward to Lokeren. However, the north bank is the more pleasant. There is another km of nature preserve before you enter the village of Molsbroek. Here, just past a road bridge, is an interpretative sign that says that the first project to straighten the river for barge traffic was in 1742, and the last in 1955.

Past Molsbroek you are again in nature for a short distance, and then you enter Lokeren.

Central Lokeren has four bridges: from east to west a pedestrian bridge, two road bridges, and a rail bridge. The two road bridges are extensions of the long sides of the market square. The town hall and tourist office are at the southwest corner of the square. Stop there if you would like a map of the nature preserve network and bike path. Past the center access become difficult and then impossible on both sides of the river.

To continue north, turn right (north) about 75 m east of the pedestrian bridge - directly opposite the Durmebad (swimming pool) and just before a curious little red and white house.

Access: A 12 north to the Puurs exit, through Puurs to Temse and then towards Tielrode/Hamme. At Tielrode turn off the main road following the Durmeveer (Durme ferry) signs to the ferry landing. There is a large parking lot.

Rail Trail 77A: Lokeren - Moerbeke (8.5 km)

77A rail trail
Source: Karel Roose

From the pedestrian bridge head north on the dirt road, then right as it skirts the parking lot, then left as it turns by the entrance to the Verloren Bos (lost woods) park. A total of 300 m brings you to a paved road, and you see that you have been riding on Aardeken. Turn to the right and under the railway. The street then turns to the right, to form part of a wide boulevard. The rail trail is in the median of the boulevard.

But not for long. Within 200 m you pass under the N70 highway and then the rail trail takes off on its own. The first half km is still in the town, and then you enter the country. (Note the large modern chateau on your left as the green takes over.)

The next nearly 6 km as fine riding through bucolic farmland and nature preserves. The pavement is mostly excellent, with root damage in a few places. Most of the way you ride under a pleasant arcade of trees. The occasional crossroad is clearly marked with yield signs - for the cyclists on the rail trail. Some of the crossroads have pubs. About 2 km from Lokeren you cross the Moervaart, which here has a dirt track on the north bank.

You then reach the end of the paved rail trail, at a minor highway with a parallel bike path. The right-of-way of the former railway is still clear of obstructions, and could perhaps be followed on a mountain bike.

For hard pavement, turn right and directly north on the bike path. You are running parallel to a drainage canal called the Bosgracht (canal in the woods), with trees providing shade from the afternoon sun. In about 1.8 km you reach the Dambrug over the Moervaart, with the town of Moerbeke on the north side of the canal.

Moervaart: Moerbeke - Terdonk ferry (9 km)

Disregard what GeoCart shows and turn left (west) on the south bank service road. The first couple of km are urban, including a large sugar refinery (note the ancient bridge that carried the former railway) on the north bank, but the south is basically countryside. The riding surface is excellent, with tall trees to the south of the service road. You then reach Terwestbrug (restaurant/pub) and complete countryside begins.

The next 4.3 km, to the Overledebrug, are delightful. You then face a decision. Cross the bridge and have a brew at 't Loze Vissertje (perhaps "naughty fisherman" - Wim Wouters) while you decide. The north bank of the canal can be followed, but much of the 4.8 km to the next bridge are rough single track, and most of the rest dirt road of variable quality. If you take the north bank, just follow the water. Much more pleasant, and not really any longer, is a detour to the south.

From the bridge turn left (south) on the highway (bike lane) for about 900 m to the first paved road to the right (west) (sign for St Bavo). Turn west and follow this country lane (Oostdonkstraat). Except when there is motocross racing at the track nearby, there should rarely be much traffic. Eventually you cross a canal and the street name becomes Mendonkdorp - which village you soon enter. The church is unremarkable - a new post war construction - but of great antiquity. The use of the site may date from the time of St Bavo, who reportedly hung out in this area as a hermit in the 7th century. (If there is any truth to the story, he may have been the only Christian for 100 km in any direction - this was not Christian territory at the time.)

300 m past the church is a T junction. Continue west and in another 400 m you are again at the Moervaart and a Bailey bridge. It is called the Spanjeveerbrug (Spanish ferry bridge).

Bailey Bridge
Source: Karel Roose

Bailey bridges being used for regular traffic (that on the Leopold Canal is actually a working war memorial) are virtually unheard of. There must not be much traffic around here. (For more on Bailey bridges, go to http://www.baileybrug.info/.)

Cross the bridge and then make a U-turn down to the left to follow the north bank of the canal to the SW. There is a fine service road which quickly becomes a bike path for over a km before again becoming a service road in a harbor area. This area belongs to a club of deep sea fishermen. I personally would not be willing to go out on the Channel in most of the boats there, although you do see some serious fishing machines at other places along the Moervaart.

Terdonk Ferry
Source: Karel Roose

At the end of the harbor you join a road and pass under the R4 John Kennedybrug. The end of the canal, at the Gent - Terneuzen Canal, is slightly over 1 km further, along a road through an industrial zone. To get to the ferry, turn right at the end of the tank farm (sign for ferry) and then left in 500 m on the bike path (hard packed). (Or you can just follow the road around to the ferry - there are bike lanes on this final stretch of about 300 m. The road runs by the Rodenhuizedok for a short distance.

This is the Terdonk - Doornzele ferry. You can use it to cross the Gent - Terneuzen Canal and continue north or south.

route verified by Karel Roose 27 Mar 2004

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