Anyone who has been through Bosland National Park has cycled, knows the picture: you turn node 272 up and slowly the path rises among the pines. Until, at 10 metres, you are suspended between the treetops. Cycling through the Trees is now seven years old, but apparently still so good that audiences are flocking it to the first spot of the Audience award Route of the Year 2025 has voted.
The award is presented annually by RouteYou, the platform for recreational routes. No expert jury, but users decide the winner. The category: recreational cycling routes in Belgium, created by organisations. The route of Visit Limburg came out as the public favourite. “A route that scores well not only on map, but especially in the hearts of its users,” RouteYou said when it was announced at the end of December.
Read also:
Double circle bridge at Pijnven
Just to focus on the location, as this is sometimes mixed up in the reporting. The bridge itself is at Pijnven in Hechtel-Eksel, near the border with Lommel. Both deep in Bosland, the largest contiguous forest area in Flanders.
The structure is a double circle bridge some 100 metres in diameter. Over a stretch of 700 metres you gradually climb to treetop level. That may sound like a tourist attraction, but on the bike it feels different. The gradient is barely noticeable, the curve turns continuously, and before you realise it, you are in the middle of the canopy.
The loop is accessible to cyclists, walkers and joggers.
The gift that keeps on giving.
The bridge opened in 2019 and already picked up gold in January 2020 at the International Design Awards in Los Angeles. That's the architecture side of the story. The 2025 public award tells something else: that people continue to ride, share and recommend the route. That is more relevant to cyclists than a design trophy.
The winning route takes in not only the bridge itself, but also along the sand dunes of Den Brand and the German Military Cemetery in Lommel. That contrast: climbing up among the trees, then the silence of a cemetery.
Combine with a longer ride
For whom Cycling through the Trees want to build in a larger loop: the junction network in Bosland lends itself perfectly to this. Via the nodes, you can thus ride a loop of 40 to 60 km through alternating forest, heathland and open grassland. The Lommel Sahara is within cycling distance, and along the way you alternate shady forest paths with more open stretches.
The route is suitable for a recovery ride or a social ride. Coffee is everywhere in Limburg.
Another winner
In the routes created by individuals category, the prize went to Deinze - Poelberg “Between Lys and Mandel”, a 41km loop through the flax country towards the Poelberg. Created by a user named Omafiets. Das not bad.
