Walk length 6km
Pin dropped at 50.785878, 4.386195

Walk length 4km

We start at the intesection of Golflaan (yes, there's a driving range and 3-hole golf course just nearby, the Golf Club Rhode-St-Genèse) and Brassinelaan.  There's usually parking available along this stretch of the road.  None of the mansions nearby don't have private parking after all.  

Walk length 5km.

We start at the brand new car-parking lot which also has a large bike rack.  Public transport links include a bus stop (W bus, 365a) right nearby and a short distance up the Zonienwoudlaan/Avenue de la Forêt de Soignes is another one for the 136 and 155.   The Rhode-Saint-Genèse train station is 2.3km up the same road.

Click on it and you can read about the 'Laiterie Centrale' in French or Dutch.   There are many such QR codes around Rhode-Saint-Genèse which you can find more about here.  There is another one further up the path too.  You go past the former Forest Rangers' house and you will see on your left a memorial bench to Véronique France who was killed by her husband.  Should you want to read more about this horrific murder you go to this story in DH from the time.  Heading through some open forest with some Broom and Hawthorn alongside the usual suspects, you keep going until you meet the Drève de Lorraine.   This is a major arterial route which runs from Uccle near the European School all the way to the Rhode-St-Genèse /Waterloo border.  Turn left and go past the picnic area.   After a few moments you will come to an intersection with the Koninginnevoetpad (Queen's Footpath - I don't know if it refers to a particular queen).  Turn right and follow this pretty path with accompanying meandering (usually dry) stream for just over a kilometre.  Meandering stream/streambeds are a feature of the forest because of the geology.  In season there are some patches of bluebells along here as elsewhere in the forest, they love being in a damp place near a watercourse.  No real need to go the other forest really.  

You will know when you are coming to end of the path because the sound of traffic will be getting louder as you approach Duboislaan as it heads out to The Ring.   As you reach the the raod you will be at the junction of a number of paths.  Do not cross the road.  You need to take the second path on the left called Grasdellepad.  Very shortly you come to The Foresters' Monument.    

It was built shortly after The First World war in memory of forest workers who lost their lives.  It was unveiled in 1920 by the then Head of Forests and Waters, Nestor Crahay (more of him shortly).  Take a moment to wander round the circle reading the names of the fallen.   You will also see the first of three small memorial date stones on this walk.  This one is 1918 marking the end of the war.​

Now rejoin the path and shortly you will come The Crahay Oak, one of a few listed 'Arbres Remarquables' in the Forest.   Future walks will take you past the other ones.   Yep, the same Crahay responsible for the monument.

Continue along the path and shortly you will come to a clearing which has a some picnic tables.  At the beginning on your left, you will see another memorial date stone, this one for 1930.

What does this commemorate I hear you ask?  Why, it was put here to mark 100 years of the independent State of Belgium! I have yet to find out why this particular path has been chosen for so many memorial stones, so if you know, tell me.  This one is supposed to be surrounded by 10 Linden Trees (Tilleul/Lindeboom).   A little bit further on, before the end of the clearing but this time on the right is another one!   This one is for 1905 but it's almost illegible through weathering.   Apparently it was surrounded by 12 trees, 7 of one type and 5 of another.   As you can see, not a lot of this planting remains.  Just goes to show that memorials, like memories, fade with time.

So what was commemorated in 1905?  Why the 75th anniversary of the creation of the independent State of Belgium!

That marks the end of the commemorative stones that I know of in this part of the forest.  Maybe there's a 50th anniversary stone.  I'd love to find a list of them so if you know where to look beyond Googling then please get in touch.   The Bosmuseum/Musée de la Fôret in Groenendaal lists two of them, the 1905 and 1930 ones above.

Now continue along the path as we head home.   You come to a intersection of paths and you'll need the Drève de Lorraine (again), going to your left.   Shortly you will come to a possibly familiar intersection at the bottom of a small valley which you approached from the other direction earlier.   It's the Koninginnevoetpad and you turn right onto this pretty little path.  Avoiding the shortcut which appears on your left after several minutes (it is actually only for horses but not indicated as such here so you could be forgiven for not knowing) you will reach the usually busy foot/cycle path which tracks the Chaussée de Waterloo.  Watch out for cyclists, they rarely have bells and even more rarely actually ring them.   In the same spirit of indicators on cars, I imagine.  Turn left, and you will presently come to the carpark from where you started.  I hope the weather was with you.

This section of the Chaussée de Waterloo is actually a watershed.  On the forest side all the water flows down to the lakes at Groenendaal which is why it's always a bit downhill as you enter the forest here and a bit uphill as you return.

The Middenhut where this walk starts is half-way between Kleinehut and Grotehut which were two shelters/small hunting lodges dating from at least the end of the 18th century.  When the Chaussée de Waterloo was a toll road, one of the tolls was at Grotehut, just about where you will find Stonemanor, the British Store.