The best MTB trails around Meulebeke

Through the fields, unpaved and nice to walk

Very nice piece of single track that runs just next to the Trakelweg (canal towpath) just next to the Mandel. The small but beautiful Mandelhoek Nature Reserve certainly has its charms. Many years ago the Mandel was very polluted but nowadays it has become very clear water. Thanks to good nature management the entire area has become beautiful.

Nature reserve and water: a successful mix

is The lock in Ooigem forms an essential connection between the Roeselare-Leie Canal and the Leie. However, the lock dates from the early 1970s and was due for a thorough renovation in 2023. These works were accompanied by a drying out of the lock. Among other things, it was given new lock gates and the possibility of remote control. The lock is the only connection between the Leie and the Roeselare-Leie Canal. And annually transfers no less than 4 million tons of cargo. Source: https://www.vlaamsewaterweg.be/nieuws/sluis-ooigem-wordt-klaargetoomd-voor-de-toekomst

Small chapel along the side of the road.

The bridge's somewhat rebellious name was chosen by the people of Ingelmunster. It refers to the historical nickname "brigand" (meaning highwayman) that a group of Ingelmunster residents in the 18th century were given after they resisted the French occupiers. Source: https://www.seineschelde.be/vernieuwen-brigandsbrug-ingelmunster-wat And... no, the rapper Brihang is not from Ingelmunster, but from Knokke-Heist, where the dialect "brigand" (in West Flemish, "brihang") is, of course, also part of the local dialect.

A unique, recent bridge, inaugurated in 2020. What makes the Brigands Bridge a real eye-catcher is the opening between the two lanes that allows light to pass through. This allows the open space under the bridge—which would normally be shrouded in shadow—to be fully utilized, even allowing a green axis of flora and fauna to develop beneath the bridge. The bridge is almost 300m long. Source: https://www.infosteel.be/staal-bouw-project/6073-brigandsbrug-ingelmunster

The Izegem street art artist (°1992) created a fantastic masterpiece here. About this work she writes herself: "The name ‘droogbroodstraat’ comes from the 1800s, the soil was completely infertile and nothing could be grown on it, poverty. That is why sheep were placed there… sheep, because cows and horses were for the richer people. Sheep were good for milk and wool, in the 1960s new techniques were developed to fertilize the soil and so the heathland agriculture disappeared and so did the shepherd and his heathland sheep … Hence the reference to the shepherds. Before I started designing I spoke to a very old lady from the street who has lived there all her life. About the war and how the Germans took over certain places to live. The Germans communicated from the Droogbroodstraat. The airport a little further away provided a connection and on the very last night of the war hundreds of soldiers slept on the farmer's land, just on the ground… 1940-1945, crazy stories! The television tower, placed in the year 1973 with a height of 305 meters, the pride of Egem, which you can see from miles away, where I sometimes think 'finally, almost home', could be seen from the neighbors' position just before the building was there. This one certainly could not be missing from the picture!" Source: https://streetartcities.com/markers/97fd1778-0068-4291-808f-b6011cb9039a Djoels currently has a tattoo shop in Egem.