Explore Belgium while keeping fit thanks to the Joops app

An innovative smartphone app that combines sport with discovering local hidden gems now boasts 42 circuits in Belgium.

Jooks is a free application that helps you navigate your way around a locality while spotlighting places of interest.

Users can listen to audio commentary while running, cycling, walking or using a wheelchair. If the shortest circuit is about 4km, the average length is 10km and the cycle app covers distances of up to 40km.

The app works by combining geographical positioning with data and offering the possibility of booking personalised experiences such as hotels and guided tours.

All the circuits have been carefully selected so that users can explore villages, towns and cities at their own pace. They are available in some 300 cities across over 75 countries around the world.

Retired Belgian telecoms worker, Philippe Pleckspaen, is one of the founders of the worldwide experience. The 69-year-old, who lives in Waterloo, is a coach at a jogging club in Braine l’Alleud.

It was while on a business trip to Madrid that he and his two associates came up with the idea. “After a day’s work, we decided to go for a run in the area. We saw lots of what looked like very interesting places but the problem was that we didn’t know what they were or anything about them which was a shame.

When we got back to the hotel we reflected on this rather sad experience. It was then that we came up with an application that would help guide people around an area so that they could get more from the experience than we did on that run in Madrid.”

Their initiative collaborates with local offices of tourism or commerce who, for an annual fee of €500, are asked to help devise a walking/running circuit in their area. Identifying local places of interest, it also includes anecdotes about famous local people and culinary specialities.

So far, an estimated 500,000 people have signed up to use the app, which is available in 12 languages, including French, Dutch, Italian, English and Chinese.

“The goal is to improve the well-being, fitness, health, cultural knowledge and safety of our apps’ users. We can very easily adapt things according to feedback from users,” added Pleckspaen.

A special promotion will shortly be held in Wavre, which boasts three circuits, to coincide with the world hockey championships taking place in the Walloon Brabant capital.

Testing a new circuit in the rural town of Gerpinnes

Meanwhile, the latest circuit was launched on 2 August in Gerpinnes, south of Charleroi, which is famous for its folklore marches. The most important one takes place during the spring Pentecost holiday, gathering more than 2,500 walkers in uniforms from the 1st and 2nd Napoleonic Empire, in honour of Holy Rolende.

I joined Pleckspaen and a small group of runners to explore the area on a hot Sunday morning, covering a distance of 11km.

The app took us around the town’s medieval monuments, castles (Château d'Acoz, pictured above), fountains and churches, including Saint-Michel Church that contains the remains of Holy Rolende, the daughter of Didier, King of the Lombards, who died of exhaustion in Villers-Poterie in the 9th century.

We stopped regularly as Pleckspaen pointed out places of interest, while also appreciating the verdant nature and tranquillity of the region.

Edmond Van der Meiren, president of the tourist office in Gerpinnes, said he was “proud and delighted” to be involved with the new scheme. “I think it is a very good idea and we look forward to engaging with the initiative. We already attract quite a lot of visitors, including tourists, because this is a very pleasant and picturesque area.

He also hoped it would help boost tourism and allow even more people to discover the area. “A very dynamic circuit has been devised here which allows even locals to find out about places they may have, hitherto, not known about. We look forward to welcoming lots of people to our locality.”