Brussels has a cathedral of trees. The Sonian Forest, or Zoniënwoud, covers about four and a half thousand hectares on the south-eastern edge of the city, and most of it is beech, tall grey-barked trunks that rise like columns, with a canopy so dense that the forest floor under it is open and dim. Some trees are two centuries old, and the pattern of straight, evenly spaced trunks comes from the way the forest was managed in the eighteenth century under Austrian rule, when foresters planted the stands in a deliberate style. Parts of the forest were listed by UNESCO in 2021 as part of the ancient beech forests of Europe.
The paths run between mossy banks, with ponds, dips and old hunting rides, and walkers, cyclists and riders on horseback share them. In October, when the beech leaves turn copper and the ground is deep in mast, it is among the finest woods in northern Europe, and in spring, in April and May, bluebells and wood anemones fill the slopes.
The forest is shared by three regions of Belgium, Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels, and the rules differ at each boundary. Hoeilaart, a town of about ten thousand, has fuel and a long tradition of growing grapes under glass, and Sint-Genesius-Rode, French-speaking and nearly eighteen thousand strong, is a quiet commuter town with cafes. The country road between them follows the forest edge with gentle bends, though traffic into Brussels is heavy at rush hours.
Motorcycles are restricted on forest tracks, and the paved roads through the wood carry speed limits and cameras, so take it calmly. North of the forest, the road to Tervuren, with its great museum of Central Africa and a park laid out by Leopold II, makes a good half-day. After the ride, Belgian beer and frites are the obvious answer, and a stop at a waffle stand is not cheating. Weekdays are quieter, and the smell of wet leaves is a very good reason to go in November.