Today we set off from number 25, next to a small river at the edge of a wood in Loonbeek. We went uphill towards a high grassy plain, to node number 24, which we had reached last Sunday.
It was rather less warm and sunny than Sunday. In fact it had rained in the morning and there was always a hint of more to come, although we were lucky that it never did. In some parts, the ground was wet enough to become muddy, so that we had to resort to some "moon walking"* on a brief muddy stretch.
This was quite a weird route compared to the ones we've done in the past. The stretch from 24 to 26 was the longest we can remember, 2.5 km. It went downhill towards some houses, then suddenly it turned sharp right into a narrow path, almost as if we were entering one house's private garden. At various points the path could barely be seen at all as we walked straight between fields with planted crops. At one other point we had to walk through what seemed like the middle of a farm, with deer inside an enclosure on one side and a large shed with cattle inside on the other. Again, it felt exactly as if we were trespassing. Gianluca asked if I was 100% sure we weren't lost. I said no, but I was "reasonably confident" we were on the right track...
We saw an interesting selection of specimens from the animal kingdom today...
Deer, ponies, the cattle, and...
... this toad, spotted by Gianluca at the final stretch from 26 back to 25, next to a small river.
* Moon walking - a term coined by Gianluca to described the way we need to proceed, without slipping and falling over, when mud covers the entire width of the path. Later, he pointed out that it's not really like walking on the moon, since there's no water and therefore no mud there. But the term stuck.
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