An optical discussion in Bierbeek

Today was an awesome day. We went from 7 to 70, 71, 72, 73 and back to seven.

As we arrived to 70, I asked, "If one eye sees from one angle and the other another angle then how can you see only one angle?" And Tonio replied, "Because what you can see is actually the angle in between the two eyes." And then I asked, "So how come when I look at the ground I see double the amount of fingers? To show that it's not just me, try it yourself. Put your finger in front of you and focus on the ground with one of your fingers in the way. Then the finger will turn into two fingers! But don't lose focus on the floor or else it will be one finger again. Anyways back to the adventure. Tonio thought about it for a moment and then said,"I think it's because since both eyes are focusing on the ground, the finger isn't as important and since the brain doesn't do its thing there are two fingers!"

Then when we finally reached 71 Tonio said, "As usual if we had gone the other way the view would be much better. But I replied, "Selective memory." Selective memory is hard to explain but I'll give you an example. You reach a zebra crossing and just as you're about to cross it the lights turn red. You think about all the times that it has happened and you forget the times that it hasn't happened, so you say, "Whenever I'm about to go across the road the lights turn red." And that is selective memory.

As usual the lovely views took my breath away.

Then we saw a house and Tonio said that it could be the one he took in a picture before. Most of the adventures we have are circles but sometimes we go to a place and back. But that is not as practical because we cover less ground, so we leave that as our last resort.

We had a lot of fun and we thank you for reading this. Did you have fun too? If you have then join us in the next adventure of Dijleland!

GianlucaDeGringu

[Tonio's version] We skipped no. 69, which will take a whole day as it will include a detour into Leuven for a total approaching 7 km. Some day in the, hopefully, near future.

No. 70 was in a village which is even further away and probably the furthest in this network from our home - Bierbeek. We were already here when we started no. 7, and that's where we had to start again as it's the nearest to no. 70 that I could practically park the car.

Gianluca was very quiet in the beginning, and I remarked about this to him. A little while later he told me, "Can I ask you a scientific question?"

"I hope I can give you a scientific answer."

"You always give me a scientific answer. It's either the correct answer or else you say that you don't know." It was the best compliment he could have given me!

The question was about how our eyes register different images of the same view, depending on whether we look through the left or the right eye, and how come when we use both eyes we only see one image. He remarked on how you can look with both eyes at your finger and you see a double image of another object further away in the background, but when you focus instead on that object further away, you see two images of your finger in the foreground. He had noticed this phenomenon by himself, and I theorised that it was related to the previous observation of seeing different images with the left and the right eye.

It was a rather 'optical' discussion, inspired by a certain Physics Girl who he's following on YouTube. He mentioned an intriguing experiment about how she calculated the value of pi using a sheet of white paper stuck on a white board and randomly throwing a number of darts onto the board. He promised to send me the link.

The walk itself was as pleasant as usual. Quite hot and very quiet and peaceful, alternating open fields, a forest and some really beautiful farm houses.

Abdij van 't park, or... switching to silly mode in Heverlee

Today, we had a surprisingly good day. I say surprisingly because in the map it said 68 to 69 and back. That was our route since 68 to 69 was really long. And it was all road. We hadn't our hopes up very high. But it was great!

We started off going into a place that Tonio was thinking of that moment. What a coincidence! He said that the place was where he wanted to take my mum and me.

Then Tonio said we could eat here now if we wanted but I said when we come back because I wasn't that hungry yet. And Tonio said neither was he. Then, we came to a point where there was a board and it showed all the history of the place Tonio said where we should eat. It was actually an abbey. It had three zones. One for the hunters, one for the trading, and one for the praying.

Then we reached 69 but it was blocked because of a dangerous bridge. But we saw the number so we went back.

After that, when we were going back, we went into the place Tonio said where we should eat. I had some prawns wrapped around breadcrumbs with fries and Tonio had a Caesar salad.

Finally We strapped ourselves in our seatbelts and drove home. Did you have fun? Because I have. If you have too join us in the next adventure!

GianlucaDeGringu

[Tonio's version:] I was not looking forward very much to this one, from 68 to 69 and back, along what appeared to be an asphalted road from an industrial area at the edge of Heverlee towards a residential area in Leuven. It turned out to be one of our most interesting walks yet in Zuid Dijleland.

The route immediately led us into a forest path, always much better than a road with fast cars driving past. Spring is definitely in full swing now. It was warm and sunny and the forest so much more pleasant. I embarked on a sermon about selective memory after Gianluca mentioned that, every time whenever we encounter a rail crossing, the barrier comes down and we have to wait for a train to pass.

We reached the residential area but soon afterwards the route turned towards cultivated patches and a lake further along. At the time, I was thinking about an interesting abbey at the edge of Leuven, that I had reached when on a solo bike trip last summer, when lo and behold, we arrived at that same abbey!

We crossed through this "Abdij van 't Park de Heverlee", which is undergoing restoration, on towards no. 69, but the way was barred. A bridge over the railway leading to post 69 was blocked for safety reasons - a technician was investigating how it can be made safe again as parts of it are falling down...

We stopped at The Lodge for lunch. It's the same place where I took the selfie which is still my profile picture on Facebook. Lovely place.

On the way back, instead of philosophising, we switched to silly mode. Gianluca was humming something about snow - I sang the same tune in Maltese, mentioning "borra" (snow), which Gianluca insisted it sounds like "bucket"... on towards my invention of "Dik il-barbara Barbara Barbara marret barra mal-barri fil-borra." (That barbarian Barbara Barbara went out with the bull in the snow... Barbara is both a name and a surname in Malta).

It was a thoroughly enjoyable walk. Sorry, adventure.

Spring springs alive in Heverleebos

Today, we started off by going past a graveyard and we had a bit of a look. It was not just a normal graveyard. It was giant with many sections of dead people in what times and nationalities.

We saw some trees that were red. "But how come they are red when it's spring?" I asked. "I don't know, replied Tonio. Maybe they were ever red trees!

After going to 68 we went into the forest. We took some pictures of Tonio and I on a bench but they didn't work out very well. As we continued, we saw a large tree stump. We counted and it was 150 years old! Shortly after that we saw another stump and it had a new baby tree on it. Tonio said that even when they cut the tree down it was still alive.

We found some logs and had a rest on them while talking about science. We were saying what we believed about the universe. Was it infinite? Was it only one of the countless universes? So many questions and so few answers. I think that the universe is always growing nonstop forever. But lets not drift off into that vast subject.

At last we came to the car and drove home. Did you enjoy reading this? If you did then come again to the next adventure!

GianlucaDeGringu

[By Tonio]: The past week it was practically winter in late April in Belgium. Not today. We were rewarded with a brilliant day of sunny weather, and thoroughly enjoyed our walk in the Heverlee wood.

We set off along a longish straight path, with factory-like structures and military looking lorries on one side and a large field on the other. We passed by a large cemetery and more fields before entering the Heverleebos itself. It seemed as if, after last week's dismal weather, nature sprang forth in a kaleidoscope of colours. Rarely does a completely straight path provide so much spectacle.

Gianluca was inspired to come up with some atrocious puns mixed up with other good ones. It's clear that he's honing his skills for a hopefully witty future.

We discussed the nature of the universe, whether it is infinite, or whether it's a small bit of a much larger universe. Whether dark matter, since it's invisible, makes up the rest of what exists outside of the observable universe. Whether "nothing", which is what I speculated there is outside of the universe, can really be considered to exist at all...

Beyond the straight pathway we crossed underneath the E40 motorway towards another section of the wood that was just as spectacular. Too bad about the noise from the motorway that cuts right through the middle of this beautiful forest. But we didn't let this bother us at all. It was quite simply a lovely walk in a wonderful place.