The best running trails in Zennegat - Battenbroek

Here you have a view of the Beneden-Nete with wide reed beds just before it will form the Rupel together with the Dijle.

Batteliek is a Mechelen microbrewery, microdistillery, and lemonade housed in a former church. It's a wondrous place where alchemy and industry intertwine. Let your senses be captivated by the experimental kitchen and drinks, where new flavors are developed through trial and error.

The Zennegat: intersection of water safety and nature development The Zennegat lies where the Zenne River, the Leuven-Dijle Canal, and the Dijle River meet. This flood control area guarantees safety in the surrounding area and protects valuable natural resources. Channels, mudflats, and salt marshes here provide an ideal habitat for various plants and animals.

Beautiful views and handy for shortening or extending your rides

I would like to advertise Café Zennegat 13 - Bruinkroeg/Eethuis (kitchen 12:00-14:00 & 18:00-20:30) The owners kindly request that diners make a reservation in advance via the reservation system below. (See link below highlight) Historical tastemaker: The Leuvense vaart or the Leuven-Dijle canal was dug from 1750 to 1753 with a patent from Empress Maria-Theresia of Austria to provide Leuven's breweries with raw materials in particular. The Leuven city council had campaigned for more than two hundred years for a connection to the sea to promote its trade. The canal is one of the oldest dug waterways in Belgium. Café Zennegat - built together with the locks and the lock house in 1750 - is the only remaining business in the hamlet of Zennegat, at the time a busy resting place for bargemen, river pilots and boat tugs. And also for day trippers. Paling in ’t groen (eel in green) was considered the regional dish. And thirst could be quenched in no fewer than nine inns. In addition to its ferry service and café, Polleke-den-overzetter also had a grocery store and for bargemen's wives there was even a shop selling fabrics and knitwear. In the late sixties, the Mechelen Fish Market and the Haverwerf were taken over by hippies and a few years later the rebellious people also settled at the Zennegat. As if the so-called long-haired, work-shy rabble had anything to do with water. Sander, an indigenous and elderly Zennegat resident, certainly had no questions and immediately feasted his eyes on the power flower girls who came to splash around naked at the lock. “Those damned old tits sticking out, by golly!” The locks of the Zennegat were without a doubt the gates to his heaven on earth. Rik Wouters (1882-1916), the world-famous Belgian Fauvist, also liked to come there to linger and sketch. The café has been immortalized in two of his etchings.

Quiet walk along the canal

always leave a door open before going to the toilet

At this location you are standing at a historic lock. The Leuven-Dijle Canal, which starts in the Leuvense Vaartkom and ends here at the Zennegat, is one of the oldest canals in Belgium. After two years of digging, the first ship was launched here on 23 July 1753. The Zennegat lock has been there since the very beginning. There are not many places where you can still admire such a well-preserved 18th century lock. All the more so because the lock is of the rare 'buiksas' type. This name refers to the semi-circular recesses in the walls, which are provided on both sides to provide space for the open lock doors. The old lock keeper's house is also still there.