Cycling to Doel: an Antwerp day trip to the Belgian Chernobyl

We recently made a cycling trip on the left bank of the Scheldt, to the semi-abandoned village of Doel. This makes for a perfect alternative ‘off the beaten track’ day trip from Antwerp. Which packs many different things into one long but exciting day. You’ll cycle through a big port, the second biggest of Europe, and past a monster of a nuclear power plant. But you’ll also see happy bunnies jumping over fields and sheep walking freely over the roads. Industry and idyll.

The prerequisite is that you have a bicycle, or that you’re willing to rent one. De Lijn’s buses no longer pass Doel. Besides, you’d miss out on a lot of extras that make the excursion worthwhile. The whole trip is more than 50 kilometres. Read on to find out how to do it practically and what you can see along the way.

How to visit Doel by bicycle?

Antwerp runs a convenient waterbus on the river Scheldt. Take it from the city centre (a stop called ‘Steenplein’) to ‘Zwijndrecht’. You can also get off at ‘Kallosluis’ or ‘Liefkenshoek’ if cycling 50k seems a bit too ambitious. A single ticket costs €3, a return €5. We asked for a return ticket to and from ‘Kallosluis’, as we wanted to skip the last bit on the way back, but got off at ‘Zwijndrecht’.

We used the awesome Flemish cycling network ‘Knooppunten’. The concept is easy. You compile your own route on the website and write down the numbers you have to follow in order not to get lost. This system originated in the coalmines in Limburg, where miners memorised numbers and routes to return safely from under the ground. A clever engineer saw the potential for cycling trips. Now you can set out to almost anywhere in Flanders without maps or GPS.

We followed these numbers: 11 — 15 — 17 — 13 — 16 — 14 — 17 — 15 — 11. It’s important to note, however, that you don’t need to cycle all the way to that last 11 if you’re returning with the waterbus from ‘Kallosluis’. If you want to take the waterbus back from ‘Zwijndrecht’, you need to add 46 to the end of your list. We also included a loop from Doel through the polders (one of the few Dutch words that made it into the English language!) and the surrounding picturesque countryside. Optional, but highly recommended.

What can you see along the way?

Nature and countryside

It’s worth to make a stop at Groot Rietveld for a short walk through the reed lands of this ornithologists paradise. Lissedodde is another nature reserve you’ll pass. Sometimes, you’ll cycle on small unpaved roads past fields full of cows. Hard to believe you’re so close to a city that prides itself as cosmopolitan and to one of the biggest ports in the worlds.

Village life

If you need to resupply or take a rest, nearby Kallo, a short detour from our route, has some facilities. I used to drink beers after work in a bar called In ‘t Sas. In this old-fashioned place (in the best meaning of the word), barmaid Fabienne has been the same for the last fifty years. Prices are low and, if you’re lucky, you can see how villagers play old pub games. As long as you order a drink, Fabienne will let you eat fries from the Belgian chip shop across the street. The owner of that frituur might even bring them to your table — the little luxuries of village life.

A big port

You can watch gigantic container ships from Panama come through Kallosluis and Kieldrechtsluis. The latter was the biggest lock in the world at the time of opening. Cycling through this monstrous landscape makes you feel quite small. Even on weekends when harbour activities run at a slower pace. The port itself serves as a habitat to certain species as well. Such as the sand martins that make their nest deep into piles of sand.

An old fort

We merely cycled by Fort Liefkenshoek and didn’t stop to visit. But this fort from the 16^th century is supposedly a nice green area in the port. Intended to protect Antwerp against the Spanish, the city still yielded to the invaders. Fun fact: the strong Spanish presence led to the nickname of Antwerpians, ‘sinjoren’, from the Spanish señor.

The abandoned village Doel

The port’s history is also one of extensions that wiped villages from the map. On the other side of the river, you can still spot old church towers between containers and cranes. A 1960s plan intended to demolish Doel, a sleepy polder town. Loud protests from locals and economic stagnation in the 1970s finally saved Doel, although the expropriation process had already started. Around the turn of the century, the port company started buying houses from the villagers, many of whom were tired after years of fighting and insecurity.

Which is why Doel effectively died out. The school closed in 2003, when there were only seven pupils left. The port company failed to maintain the buildings, and squatters set up camp. Even though they have been either removed or forced to pay rent, the village still feels like a lawless place. Graffiti is sprayed over most houses and, upon our visit, a motorbike gang circled around the streets. True, we saw those same bikers drink tomato juice in the local bar, so they hardly could’ve been tough Hell’s Angels, but still. Doel also attracts day-trippers, urban explorers and photographers.

Because of its proximity to a looming nuclear power plant, Anete likened Doel to Pripyat, the town abandoned after the meltdown of Chernobyl. No worries, there haven’t been any nuclear disasters yet. Even though, supposedly, the reactor showed signs of ‘cracks’ in 2012. Let’s hope that Belgian nuclear scientists act a bit more responsible than the ones from the old Soviet Union.

More nature

After taking a break in De Molen, a bar which is housed in an old windmill, we continued our cycling trip past the nuclear station. We cycled over dikes next to the river Scheldt. Most of nature here, the bay muds and the fields teeming with bunnies, was built to compensate for the loss of green areas elsewhere. This is a bird paradise, and little do our feathered friends care about the close proximity of the port.

We cycled over quiet traffic-free roads, where we encountered no signs of life save for the free-ranging sheep that flocked the streets, until we reached the peaceful village of Prosperpolder. Insanely photogenic, Prosperpolder has no shops, no bakeries, no butcheries, not even a frituur, only a sporadically passing tractor and dung cart and one village bar, Den Angeluus. We would’ve stopped for a beer if we hadn’t earlier. Instead, we fantasised about what it must be like to live here and cycled back to Antwerp, to our home, where, we can choose between tens of shops within walking distance. So close, and yet so far away.