2023 Campspace - Canvascamp tour
The trip
Just like last year, we were contacted by Campspace to see if we would enjoy doing a few scouting jobs for them. This time, it was initiated by Canvascamp who discovered our Canvascamp Sibley tent on Linda's instagram. We bought this tent about 6 years ago and are using it at least once a year.
They had just delivered tents to some Campspaces and were urgently in need of pictures, so this seemed again a good match. We agreed that we would do this in combination with a bicycle tour starting and ending at a trainstation.
Video on DILISTUFF YouTube channel
We started the trip at the trainstation of Turnhout and we have been using bicycle junctions to create our route. There are a few free apps which you can download to create the route and we have used the "Fietsknoop" app.
Campspace "Buitenhuis", Ravels
Bicycle junctions from train station Turnhout to Campspace Buitenhuis Talander (+- 25 km)
45 - 46 - 62 - 61 - 11 - 20 - 22 - 55 - (57)
Talander is a non-profit organisation providing work and housing for people with a mental disorder. The "Buitenhuis" is a small satellite house of the organisation where 1 social worker lives and takes care of 3 resident guests.
During the day, they work at Talander and at the weekend they will go back to their maternal home.
The "buitenhuis"team, Sven, Louise, Erwin and Toon.
Good to know : Hang a stone flowerpot upside down, filled with straw, on to the tree trunk of your fruittrees.
Over time, Earwigs will move in to your flowerpot and ... they will eat all the aphids or greenflies that nestle in your fruittree.
You can also order breakfast for the next day. It comes with an omelette from the resident chicken, apple juice from the apple trees in the garden, jam from locally harvested fruits and honey from the bees having their home in the same garden.
Neighbourhood activities
Leaving the Campspace's garden, you are immediately in the Ravels regional forest on the "Bruggeskeswandeling"(Little bridges walk). It's a nice walk of around 10 km via narrow winding sandy paths, forest and heathland. The entire track is signposted with a red triangle sign.
More than 20 wooden bridges help you cross the many ditches.
Campspace "Grijzenberg", Arendonk
Bicycle junctions from Buitenhuis Talander to Campspace Grijzenberg (+- 5 km)
(57) - 55 - 22 - (20)
The Grijzenberg house was previously a holiday home for the family of local nobility. Now, Christof and Lize are managing the property and they also work at the Talander organisation, which was founded by Kristof's parents.
While this Campspace is really huge, they limit occupancy to 3 units to insure that the place stays peaceful and quiet. For Christof, it's important that you can enjoy the wildlife which visits the Campspace at night, and then we're not just talking about the many birds but also deer and wild boars.
Neighbourhood activities
The "stiltefietsroute" (Silence cycle route) is about 50 km and can start at the Wouwershoeve, another project of Talander.
(bicycle junctions : 22 - 55 - 57 - 01 - 52 - 05 - 03 - 02 - 01 - 04 - 09 - 60 - 32 - 63 - 21 - 62 - 61 - 11 - 59 - 60 - 56 - (22)
At the Wouwershoeve, there is a teahouse and a flower field where you can pick your own flowers.
The cycle route continues via the "hoge vijvers" (high ponds) nature reserve and the "Landschap De Liereman" domaine where you can stop at the visitor center for a drink or in our case, a delicious ice cream.
Campspace "Het Liller Mulke", Pelt
Bicycle junctions from "Grijsbergen" to Campspace Het Liller Mulke via brewery De Achelse Kluis (+- 50 km)
(22) - 20 - 59 - 67 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 87 - 77 - 86 -85 - 05 - 04 - 34 - 31 - 32 - 33 - 217 (de Kluis) - 218 - 564 - (563)
The route from Grijzenberg to Liller Mulke also means leaving the province of Antwerp and coming in to the province of Limburg.
For a short while, you are also riding in The Netherlands and it's here that we have 2 tips for you :
Lunch : Herberg in het wilde zwijn
( In the wild boar Inn) , between Dutch Eersel and Belgian Postel.
Ice cream : Bij de Neut (no idea what it means here, but a Neut is for sure also a little glass of liquor) in Westerhoven.
One of the activities mentioned by Campspace Het Liller Mulke was to visit the brewer De Achelse Kluis. We decided to do this as a last stop before going to our next Campspace.
The brewery used to be one of the few approved Trappist beers until the brewery was sold and not managed by the monks of Westmalle. But, no worries, it's still brewed at the same place and still tastes exactly the same. MMMMM, luckily only a few km's to our next destination.
Arriving at the Campspace, we just got the impression that the grounds of these campsites always become bigger and bigger, while the owners always restrict occupancy to an absolute minimum.
The Miller Mulke Campspace is really the combination between luxury accommodation in a Canvascamp tent with good beds and the minimalistic approach of a little more than wildcamping. Yes, you have a toilet but washing up or taking a shower needs a little more courage. A nice experience.
During the summer holidays, Stijn and Lieve are making their large campground available to youth organisations for their summer camps.
It's a nice way to share this large piece of nature with a bigger group of people.
On the grounds , there is also an old watermill and the Warmbeek, a small brook which flows through the estate.
It was a long time ago that we saw kids having fun with some old barrels in the water. It just felt like going back in time to a period when technology had not taken over yet. Yes, it's still possible.
And when the evening comes, it all goes quiet.
Next morning, it's just the sound of the birds.
Neighbourhood activities
Probably the most surprising activity of this trip was the descent of the river Dommel by canoe. We booked the canoe a few days before via the NWC (Neerpelt Watersports Club) for the 15 km descent from Neerpelt to Valkenswaard.
Our bicycles were transported from departure to arrival point, making this super easy.
The trip will take you about 4 to 4.5 hours and as there are no shops or restaurants along the way, it's best to take some food and drinks with you. There are a few places where you can stop for a rest or eat your picnic.
Campspace "Blueberry farm", Oudsbergen
Bicycle junctions from Miller Mulke to Campspace Blauwbessen Familie Schrijnwerkers (+- 40 km)
(201) - 213 - 212 - 08 - 211 - 263 - 07 -196 - 11 - 36 - (geuzenbaanroute) - 31 - 571 - 261 - 34 - 33 - 70 - 527 - 526 - .......
First 15 km is a nice path along the canal. If you cross the pedestrian/cycle bridge at cycle junction 211, there is a supermarket around the corner where you can buy lunch (in our case a healthy Buddha bowl).
Just before Opitter, there's a nice Pop-Up summer bar with good music, named Bar Slecht (Means Very Bad ????)
In Opitter (cycle junction 36), we decided to lengthen our route to the next Campspace by cycling the first part of the "Geuzenbaan route".
Just a few km on the Geuzenbaan, you are passing iron horses entirely made from old horseshoes by a now retired farrier. If you look well inside the horses, you see their heart (on the right spot) and even in one mare, you see an unborn foal.
Arriving at the farm, you are immediately impressed by the endless orchard of blueberry trees. Part of the orchard is in greenhouses so that they also can harvest blueberries earlier in the year.
In the tent, there was a coolbox with blueberry juice of the farm so that we could not only see, but also taste what was going on here.
Each blueberry tree is being harvested 5 times in one season. The berries on the tree do not ripe at the same time and when harvested, they stop riping. That's why at the blueberry farm, the 1st to 3rd harvest is done by specialist workers who know which berries to take and which berries to leave on the trees.
As from the 4th harvest, the blueberry farm allows public to pick their own fruits.
There is a lot of work on a big farm like this, so while it's all managed by Frans and Ruth, you will most probably also deal with Monica when visiting.
The farm also has a nice shop where you can not only buy their own products, but also products from neighbouring farms or products for which they are part of the food chain.
The best thing is that when the shop is closed, you can serve yourself on the vending machines just outside the shop.
When it comes to other facilities, everything is available.
You are sharing the sanitary facilities in the block used by the season workers and can as such also get a better insight in the life of a season worker during the harvest season.
Time to go multi-cultural.
Neighbourhood activities
The blueberry farm is next to the national park "Hoge Kempen" and you can hike up the Oudsberg,. It's the highest and largest open sand dune in Flanders and part of the ring of dunes. (Duinengordel)
This is part of the restoration to the original natural habitat of the region, whereby the upper layer of the forest soil was removed and the original yellow sand would again come to the surface.
Back Home
Bicycle junctions from Campspace Blauwbessen to train station Hamont-Achel (+- 30 km)
526 - 262 - 35 -570 - 36 - 11 - 196 -07 - 263 - 211 - 08 - 210 -223 - (542) - (568)
As part of our trip to the Hamont-Achel train station, we started with the leftover part of the "Geuzenbaan".
The rest of the route was more or less the same as the route coming here, so we stopped again at the supermarket near bicycle junction 211 for a nice take-away lunch.
Many thanks to Canvascamp and Campspace for asking us to do this trip.