Tomorrowland is a world famous festival of electronic music taking place in a big park de Schorre in Boom, a town between Brussels and Antwerp, in Belgium. This huge festival was first held in 2005, and since then become one of the world’s largest and most notable music festivals.
Nowadays the word “Tomorrowland” is easily recognizable all around the world but just a few people know how beautiful is the nature in de Schorre park and how many different recreational activities can be done while Tomorrowland is not there.
Brickyards History of De Schorre
Recreational zone De Schorre lies in the heart of the Rupel region. It is a recreational and green oasis in the urban rush of Antwerp, Mechelen and Brussels.
The brickyards of Verstrepen and of Van Herck.
Previously De Schorre belonged to the brickyards of Verstrepen and of Van Herck and looked absolutely irrecognizable.
Two authentic clay ponds still refer to the brickyard past.
Later the area was purchased by the municipality of Province of Antwerp on December 8, 1986. Since then, hard work at different stages transformed the old brickyards zone into a beautiful green recreational area and an ideal location for parties, events and conferences.
The old shed Verstrepen transforms into the modern Congress de Pitte. The same building also hosts the reception, rental counter and administration. The old and abandoned climbing tower gets back in use since 2010 and completely changes into a real adventure tower.
De Schorre – Modern Recreational Area
Nowadays De Schorre is a recreation area with beautiful lakes and almost wild nature where you can hike and bike. About one third of the park is considered as a pure natural area.
Here you can find a lot of wild plants and other vegetable life that has grown for decades spontaneously after the brick makers stopped their operations in the clay pit.
A rich variety of birds, insects and animals find their shelter here.
De Schorre is also a home for many different sport clubs and other activities. You can rent a bike here and cycle around the park exploring its beautiful nature if you prefer calm and relaxed biking.
Mountain Biking
But if you are one of those extreme lovers who prefers adrenaline you can also take part in mountain bikes competitions. They take part several times per year and attract hundreds of mountain bikers.
There are pretty high hills in the park which were specially created for mountain biking in de Schorre.
Hang Gliding and Paragliding
If if want to try something even more extreme you can also learn how to do hang gliding and paragliding in de Schorre.
One of the biggest differences between paragliding and hang gliding is the shape of a glider. Hang-gliders are made of harder materials, consisting of sailcloth stretched over a metal frame, a paraglider consists simply of a harness suspended underneath a fabric wing.
Both paragliding and hang-gliding are more relaxed than you might think, and require very little in terms of pilot strength, flexibility, and just activity in general. But they say that controlling a paraglider turns to be a bit easier than a hang-glider.
Paragliding pilots change direction and pitch by pulling on the cords connecting to the canopy, changing the wing shape and therefore how the wind interacts with it.
In hang-gliding, by contrast, pilots have their body strapped into the craft, and change direction by shifting body weight. This is fairly low-demand activity, but on extended flights it can become a bit tiring for those without good core strength.
So, choose what seems easier or more exciting to you and come over to give it a try.
Extreme Sports in de Schorre
Regarding other active types of sports you can also find a climbing wall in de Schorre. Or even the entire climbing tower.
As you can see on the photo below it is an artificially constructed tower with grips for hands and feet and special ropes for holding.
The wall has places to attach ropes and safety belts.
You don’t have to be professional in this to have some fun here.
Of course, you might not reach the top of the tower from the first time but you will definitely tense your muscles and have a lot of fun. Especially if you do that in a company of friends.
Kayak Polo
You can also have an option of trying a Kayak Polo in one of de Schorre lakes.
Kayak Polo is one of the competitive disciplines of canoeing, known simply as “polo”.
Polo includes canoeing and ball handling with an exciting contact team game, where tactics and positional play are as important as the speed and fitness of the individual athletes.
The game requires excellent teamwork and promotes both general canoeing skills and a range of other special techniques. So if you have a group of friends and don’t know what to do during the next weekend – you’ve just received a great tip!
De Schorre has it all
Whatever type of activity you search for your weekend be it extreme sports or just relaxed walking around and enjoying the nature you will definitely find it all in the recreational area De Schorre.
And you will be very surprised that this calm and green area can look like this every year in July.
For more information about Tomorrowland, visit the Tomorrowland website.
