The 20 km of the Forêt de Soignes

The Forêt de Soignes, on the outskirts of Brussels

If there are things you think of directly when you mention a capital city, you don't always think of nature. And yet the people of Brussels are lucky enough to enjoy a magnificent forest, just a stone's throw from the city centre.

The Forêt de Soignes

The Forêt de Soignes is huge (5000ha!). It stretches from Watermael-Boisfort to Waterloo, no less! You can walk through it and discover the Bois de la Cambre (with which it partly merges), the Rouge-Cloître and the Château de la Hulpe.

Routes in the Forêt de Soignes

The forest is so vast that it can be difficult to find your way around. Starting from the ADEPS centre in Auderghem, there are 3 marked trails of 5, 10 and 20 km respectively. The 5km loop follows the green triangles, the 10km loop the blue triangles and the 20km loop the red triangles.

At the beginning of August, Chloé set off on the 20km loop of the Forêt de Soignes on foot. After running it a few times, she wanted a change of pace. Here's her story.

Adventure story

"The markers are well done and still visible. That's not the case everywhere! Even though I'd done the route several times before, I still had my doubts. For a while I couldn't see any signs and I was convinced I'd taken the wrong route. After running back and forth to check, I was in fact on the right path. That was the only incident on the way".

"Walking those 20 km rather than running them did me a lot of good. I took more time to appreciate the scenery, enjoy the shade of the trees in the scorching heat, take breaks when I felt like it to grab a bite to eat, ... and pick lots of blackberries! What a treat!"

"For a moment, I thought I was in the Hautes Fagnes, on duckboards (those little wooden planks that avoid the marshes). Frankly, what a pleasure to feel so out of place just a stone's throw from home."