Globe Corner Blogs

This town has a funny tourism schtick: blue gnomes. Technically, I think they are called kabouters. What are kabouters, you ask? According to Wikipedia, they are Dutch leprechauns. From what I’ve been able to decipher from the (wooden) kabouters I’ve seen posted around this Belgian town, they seem to be little men that live in and around oversize red mushrooms with white polka dots. Children like them; they like children. I think they are religious, since the local church has a kabouter at the top of its spire, and this particular kabouter to the right keeps vigil next to a statue of the Virgin Mary.

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To me, they bear a strong resemblance to Smurfs (also a Belgian invention): they seem to move about in groups, they all have tall blue hats, and they are suspiciously low on kabouters of the female persuasion. Today, I decided to take a bike ride in the nearby Hoge Mouw, a forest area in Kasterlee known for its biking and hiking trails. I was unaware of how deep the town-administered wooden kabouters would be posted into the forest. I found myself running into them in the strangest places, like in this sandy area where the roots of trees have been exposed. I guess, though, that this would be the kind of place that a kabouter would live; I’m pretty sure that the Smurfs live under a tree, and come to think of it, so do the Keebler Elves.

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The Hoge Mouw was a great place to spend the afternoon. I definitely got lost, but was never really worried, since I ran into another biker, jogger, or walker every fifteen minutes or so, and the criss-crossing paths always seemed to lead to a main road eventually. Some parts of the trail were too rough for my bike, but other areas were landscaped with rows of tall, hefty old trees. The forest is a mix of leafy green trees and fresh-smelling pines that, high up, have exposed areas of trunk that light up the underside of the canopy.

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And, oh, the light: this is perhaps the most striking thing about this place. This is a rural area, charming in its pastures, fields, and forests, but it is essentially a flat landscape with no geological features of note. It took me a few days to figure out just why it is so pretty. The light here is truly phenomenal, an all-encompassing facet of the landscape that makes everything seem unusually crisp, and yet still somehow soft. Sunlight seems to fall gently on the sides of objects, illuminating them in profile, and then bouncing that light sideways onto the next object. I’m not too far here from Holland; perhaps this is the Dutch Light that all those Golden Age painters were dealing with.

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The Hoge Mouw paths were most interesting in the way that they slipped between dense forest, suburban side streets, pastures with farm animals, and, of course, kabouter zones. When I felt a desire to be back in the sun, I could easily zip onto a nearby street and be back on one of the flat, nicely paved roads that draw straight lines from field to field. If I were to return to Belgium, I would certainly consider making a bike trip in at least part of my journey; many of the major tourist towns here will have day tours leading into the countryside, or of course, you can always get a 24-hour rental and venture out on your own. Just watch out for the kabouters.

More info on biking in Belgium

Read more: Belgium, Bike Tours, Cycling, Travel


Kate lives and works in Chicago, IL. Her interests include fine arts, food and wine, and baseball.

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