Mollendaalbos: Adventure No. 113

Today, was, the longest adventure yet, beating the one 4 weeks ago.

Just as we got out of the car, we saw a pug walking with its owner. It looked a lot like the pug in the last adventure but it wasn’t as it had a different owner.

We continued on and Tonio said that he wouldn’t take many pictures today. We’ll see about that...

Some more interesting trees because that’s all there is in the forest. We had the elephant leg tree and the spiral tree. One of the most special trees that we saw was, later on, the thick tree. It may not sound like anything exciting but with the pictures you’ll see why it’s so special.

We kept walking and suddenly, it started hailing! That’s a good example for the weather in Belgium. It is so unpredictable if you don’t look up and see the clouds. This sudden hail is actually a normal thing that happens in Belgium. It’s not like it happens every day but it  does happen every 2 months or so. It was raining for 2 minutes and then it stopped. After about 15 minutes it started hailing again for another two minutes. I just don’t understand how hail can fall down for two minutes then stop, then start again. How?

Throughout the adventure, it was raining leaves. I caught about ten of them (it’s harder than it sounds). It was so much fun trying to catch all the leaves especially towards the end where I was so focused that I forgot about all the mud and once I accidentally stepped in some but didn’t tell Tonio but now he'll know.

After a long adventure, we finally reached the car and drove off. Did you like our adventure? If you did then make sure to come back for our next adventure in Adventures In Dijleland!

GianlucaDeGringu

Ps. I counted 21 pictures. Next time, try to keep your word Tonio 😁

[by Tonio]:

At Mollendaalbos, starting from point no. 113, today we experienced the Belgian autumn at its magnificent best: light rain, heavy rain, sunshine, hail, lots of falling leaves and a kaleidoscope of colours.

At the beginning I told Gianluca that, this being a continuation of the same forest where we came last weekend, I wouldn't be taking many photos.

Famous last words! I couldn't stop taking pictures. At each turn in our 7.3 kilometre long trek today, a new spectacular panorama came into view. It was a bit like when driving through Iceland and you would need to park the car most of the way to take a snapshot of the surroundings.

It was mostly about the trees of course, this being a forest. Among lots of different types and shapes, we saw newly planted trees, others that are surely hundreds of years old, towering high above us reminding me of the columns holding up Gaudì's Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona...

The base of a tree looking like an elephant's paw...

A spiral shaped tree trunk...

Hand-sculpted trees... and, close to the end of our walk, the pièce de résistance, the pride of Mollendaalbos, the so-called Dikke Eik - the thick oak...

All the while, the weather was changing like crazy, brilliant autumn colours everywhere, leaves were floating down on us, including at one late point when the wind increased in strength and so did the intensity of shower of leaves coming down around us. I remarked to Gianluca that this was probably the last time we could enjoy the colourful show of autumn: by next weekend most leaves will have been blown off their trees, leaving behind the bare branches for the duration of winter.

But what an adventure today. One of the best ever.