Please find driving directions below the main text
Bank account of “National Trust Belgium” (NTAB)
BE17 0016 2443 2021
Canal Cruise from Brussels to Vilvoorde
Our June outing: By Waterbus from Brussels to Vilvoorde and discover its important, ancient, and surprising history.
We begin our day with a guided tour on a Waterbus scheduled boat that takes us up the canal past some industrial sites, the docks and Laeken, to Vilvoorde.
We will spend the day exploring the waterside area of Vilvoorde and finding out about William Tyndale, his connection with Vilvoorde and why in a 2002 BBC poll of the 100 greatest Britons he was placed 26.
We are going to visit an 18th century gaol and find out why in 1773 Empress Maria Theresa wanted to build it and what happened to its architect.
We will eat a delicious lunch in the Canal Restaurant, including one drink and coffee. You will be asked to choose between Flemish stew with French fries and chicory salad or a vegetarian option of Halloumi with grilled vegetables and sauce.
We will end our day by visiting the 13th century church of Our Lady of Good Hope and finding out what treasures it has helped to preserved. We will return home by train from Vilvoorde’s historic train station. It is one of the stations on the very first passenger trainline on mainland Europe, built between Brussels and Mechelen. The present station was built in 1882 and is a preserved building.
As all the places we will visit are very close to the canal landing stage ,the longest we will have to walk for is the 10 minutes it will take to walk from the church to the station.
How to get there:
As we will leave from the centre of Brussels and need to travel into and within it during rush hour, PLEASE DO NOT DRIVE YOUR CAR.
Instead take a train into Brussels and then a metro or tram to Yser. From there walk across the bridge to the meeting point.
From Vilvoorde station you can take one of the very frequent trains back into Brussels or on to Antwerp and many other places very easily.
Please plan your journey carefully, the meeting time is 9.30, you will not be able to board the boat after 9.55 and the boat will leave at 10.00 with or without you!
