Day 3: Houthalen - Maasmechelen
- Houthalen - Maasmechelen, 55.9 kilometres (34.7 miles)
- Iconic cycle route: Kempen Route
- Accommodation: B&B Het Vuchterhof in Maasmechelen
Three young lads are hanging out on the playground equipment at Eisden market. They wear shirts of the Turkish football clubs Fenerbahçe and Besiktas. Belgian-Turkish boys. We talk about the mines in Eisden. They learned about them at school. ‘All three of us have grandfathers who came here to work in the mines,’ they say. ‘Mine worked in a Dutch mine,’ answers David. ‘And mine worked in Zwartberg,’ I say, a village located a bit further away. So, there we are, the young lads and us; a thirty-year age difference, yet with grandfathers who all worked in the mines. It creates a bond.
That morning, we left Houthalen and followed the old coal railway line to Winterslag. Nowadays, this is a flat cycle path that runs right through the Limburg Mining Region, which used to transport coal from Beringen to Maasmechelen. We cycle through the heathlands of De Teut. ‘We’re in luck,’ says David. ‘The heather is just about at its most beautiful now.’ Everywhere I look, the purple plants are in bloom, insects are buzzing about, and butterflies are fluttering around. Near Winterslag, we come across more terrils. They mark the beginning of one of Flanders’ largest mining regions. Another two huge mineshaft headframes dominate the landscape, and the mighty metal pillars,if I keep staring at them long enough, resemble long arms propping up the giant structures. Thousands of men, often from countries such as Turkey, Portugal and Italy, risked their lives in narrow tunnels underground in search of coal. At C-mine in Winterslag, I get an impression of what it must have been like; I go underground and walk through the tunnels where the miners walked, where my own grandfather must have walked too.
That evening, we meet the Italian Marco at his restaurant, Osteria Cellini. I do not know if his family came here for the mines, and I forget to ask him, because as soon as we set foot in his restaurant, we are bombarded with delicious Italian dishes, such as tender octopus and fantastic freshly-made pasta. Combined with wines from Tuscany, Puglia and Piedmont.
