The best road cycling routes around Kortessem

This place used to be the location of the Motmolen, the nature reserve is named after it: https://youtu.be/dvlbNrtk4W0?feature=shared

The artwork #inconcreto is both a tourist attraction and a viewpoint. #inconcreto is a concrete head over four meters high and slightly less wide. This landscape artwork by Frits Jeuris is about the contrast between abstract and concrete. A place that inspires reflection and fresh ideas. From the top of the giant concrete head, you overlook the surroundings.

Together with building number 40, this site forms a beautiful, enclosed unit. Number 40 probably served as the former residence of farm number 39, better known as the Kasteelhoeve. The whole dates back to the 18th century and still breathes the atmosphere of a classic, enclosed farm, although it has been adapted and rebuilt over time.

On the site where a lordly manor stood in the Middle Ages, the castle of Hardelingen was built in the 19th century. The site had continuous habitation from an early date and was closely linked for centuries to agricultural exploitation in the fertile valley of the Werm. As a lordly manor, the domain functioned not only as a residence but also as an economic center that managed and structured the surrounding land within the traditional Haspengouw agricultural landscape. Today, the castle of Hardelingen, located in the quiet village of Werm, represents a valuable example of the transformation of a medieval lordly manor into a stately 19th-century country residence. The castle and its surrounding park landscape strikingly illustrate the neoclassical ideals of order, harmony, and scenic beauty, thus occupying a special place within the heritage of Haspengouw. Want to know more about the past? Click through to https://www.burchten-kastelen.be/provincies/limburg/042%20Kasteel%20van%20Hardelingen/Kasteel%20van%20Hardelingen.html

On the spot where, according to legend, a statue of Our Lady, plowed out by a team of oxen, hung against an oak tree, a late Gothic chapel was built in 1538, which quickly became a place of pilgrimage. The chapel's interior also pleasantly surprises visitors. The rood screen is decorated with a beautiful apostle pew from 1613, probably from the Clerk's Chapel. Pilgrims used to offer a kilo of salt here to prevent children from bedwetting. Even today, the chapel attracts many visitors and, thanks in part to the procession, the May pilgrimage, and the candlelight procession, remains a center of religious life. It is open daily. On Sunday, September 8th, or the following Sunday, there is the annual rosary procession around the chapel to commemorate its dedication. This procession features a modern depiction of the mysteries of the Rosary, which also includes the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady. At the beginning of the procession, a farmer walks with an old plow. This refers to the legend that a farmer in the early sixteenth century allegedly found the statue of the Virgin Mary while plowing. The chapel on Ossenweg is said to have been built later in this neighborhood. The statue of Our Lady of Ossenweg is also carried in the procession. Source: https://www.zoutleeuw.be/kapel-van-de-ossenweg

The chapel at Oetersloven is also known as the chapel of the Bokkenrijders (Goat Riders). Jan van Muysen, a clog maker from Wellen, had left a letter of complaint at the farm of Jan Wouters from Ulbeek, demanding a large sum of money, or else his farm would be set on fire. The money was to be placed in a hole near the chapel. Wouters, however, recognized Van Muysen, despite his disguise. Jan van Muysen was arrested as a goat rider on April 1, 1774, and beheaded on June 16 of the same year in the Bonderkuil in Wellen.

As early as the 7th century, a wood-and-clay church is said to have stood here. The following saints are said to be buried there: Lambertus, Landoaldus, Amantius, Vinciana, and Landrada. These were followers of Saint Amandus, who is also supposedly buried there. In the second half of the 8th century, the relics of these saints were supposedly elevated to the altar. The saints are known as the Saints of Wintershoven. Around 1200, a single-nave Romanesque church was built of natural stone (coal sandstone, iron sandstone, flint, blue limestone, and the like). Fragments of Roman roof tiles were also incorporated into the church. Many of these building materials likely came from a nearby Roman villa. The building had a single nave, comprised four bays, and had an integrated west tower. The west facade, the two side walls, and the foundations of the choir of this building have been preserved. At the front of the south facade stood a small round-arched doorway, now bricked up, the Paradise Gate, which, in addition to the churchyard, also provided access to the presbytery. Excavations were carried out in the church from 1967 to 1968. Several graves, burial vaults, and three postholes from the original wooden church were uncovered, but no trace of the Saints of Wintershoven was found.

The lock system was built during the canal construction in the 1930s and includes three locks and a road bridge.