The best city hikes and walks in Mechels Bos

Very nicely preserved former colliery site.

The Klaverberg is a largely wooded sand dune and also the name of the surrounding nature reserve on the border of the Belgian municipalities of As, Genk and Oudsbergen. It borders the Opglabbekerzavel heathland and other wooded nature areas. The area is named after the cloverleaf-shaped drifting dunes, which form a predominantly wooded dune ridge over a length of approximately 1.7 kilometers. The sand dunes probably arose as a result of the wind-blown transport of sand that was exposed due to overgrazing and too frequent turf stripping of southwestern heathlands. Klaverberg on an 18th-century Ferraris map The Klaverberg is overshadowed by the remediated spoil tip of the former Waterschei coal mine, with a top up to 155 meters above sea level. These most striking landscape witnesses of the mining past cover a part of the dunes.

The mine spoil heap or 'stone mountain' on the Klaverberg is one of the silent witnesses to Limburg's glorious industrial past. What miners brought up from the deep underground were raw coals. Only half of the volume consisted of real coal, the rest was mine stone. These were thrown onto a 'waste heap', although 'heap' is a relative concept. The mine spoil heap on the Klaverberg is 165 meters high. At the top, you have a phenomenal view of the surroundings. What was once a waste mountain has now become a nature reserve. The European Union even designated this spoil heap and its surroundings as a habitat directive area.

Cairns (or stone men) have been used for a long time in the West as a navigation method. Cairns mark paths or hilltops. In the past, travelers crossing inhospitable areas would pick up stones along the way and add them to the nearest cairn they encountered. Especially in the misty climate of England, Scotland, Wales, or the highlands of Scandinavia, where paths are barely or not at all recognizable, these cairns are particularly useful for finding your way. You walk from one (visible) cairn to the next. Cairns are also widely used in mountainous areas. In Thor Park, the cairns show you the shortest way to the top of the spoil tip.

Between the trees of Thorpark, in the shadow of the mining past, lies the intimate artwork "Lichtsporen": https://youtu.be/vcjk4VUmrCc

You can catch your breath at one of the beautiful picnic spots behind Thor Central, right in the middle of nature. If you want to add extra flavour to your visit, you can order a multicultural picnic basket from Visit Genk. You can pick up your basket with goodies at the Mijndepot in the main building of Thor Central.

Genk has three former mining sites: in Winterslag, in Zwartberg and in Waterschei. The latter can call itself the very first coal mine in Limburg. Although André Dumont first discovered coal in As in 1901, exploitation for our province started in Waterschei. The main building of the mining site is still a real eye-catcher. Today, technology, energy and innovation gather here under the name Thor Central, the ideal hot spot for a congress, meeting or team event. Moreover, from Thor Park you can explore the wonderful nature of the Hoge Kempen National Park.

Western headframe II of the Waterschei mine. The mine site originally had two shafts with identical headframes of the A-frame type, built in 1922 to the design of and by S.A. de Construction en de Chaudronnerie d'Awans in Bierset-Awans.