Sneppenweg, Snipe Path, appears on Stevens’ maps as the Chemin des Bécasses, Woodcock Path. Two birds, closely related, both sought for the table.
Take a look at the map and you may notice something else. While the path today runs through, linking Verdunningsdreef near the Ronde Francus to the Ganzepootvijver, it did not always do so.
At the start of the 20th century, and likely for some time before, it ended. You went up it, and then you came back.
So what was the point of it?
Both game birds favour much the same ground: woodland with well-developed undergrowth, cool to damp soils, and nearby clearings or young plantations.
Walk the Sneppenweg today and you begin to see it. The older beech and oak are sparse. Younger growth gathers in close. And as you near the water, the air shifts, just slightly, towards damp.
The path did not lead through the forest. It led to the ground.