A car filled adventure

Today was... let's just say that today was unusual.

So basically, a lot of the terrain we went through was roads and streets. However, an exception was going from 229 to 228, which was by far the most interesting and beautiful part. After Tonio complained a little about the cars and the dogs – which were also quite frequent – the road branched off into a door which was quite unusual. It was made so that you can only pass as a person. Bikes and cars couldn't pass as they were too wide and/or long. We passed quite a few of them.

Anyways, we passed through that and, after walking down a straight road, we went on to a slightly dodgy bridge or path – depends on which way you look at it – made out of wood. Anyone could tell that it wasn't in the best of conditions. We wobbled through them and, although the quality wasn't the

best, the views were nice and we took some pictures of the scene.

After a few more roads and a few more cars, we went onto another non-tarmac road and we met our animals of the day.

First, we met a flock of sheep, who, after we greeted each other, we moved away and saw how they worked. At first we thought that only one of them was in one field and the rest had to stay on another. We then watched how each sheep bar one picked their way through the fence and into the other field, which made us think that one sheep had to take care of one field while the rest of the sheep went on the other. But, slowly slowly, that one sheep on the other field sauntered over to the other field. We then gave up on the sheeps' algorithm.

The second group of animals of the day were 3 horses on a very big field. One of the horses came to greet us while we read the sign on the fence. After a few minutes of translating, we figured out that it said:

3 old horses up for sale; looking for somebody to take care of
them for one or two months. They are all old, the oldest one 30
years old and the youngest 17 years old.

At last, we came to the car and drove home.

If you’ve enjoyed this adventure, make sure to join us in our next one. Also, make sure to check out Tonio’s blog called The Wanderer. But for now, goodbye!

GianlucaDeGringu

[Tonio]:

The starting point today was at a crossroads between Neerijse and Sint-Agatha-Rode. There were beautiful fields on each side, but unfortunately, our path was through a busy road with cars whooshing by. It was not pleasant in the beginning and from point to point the loop passed through roads with yet more cars. I mentioned to Gianluca that I would complain to "the manager" of the Zuid Dijleland network.

Finally, eventually, we left the car traffic behind us. From then on it became muddy but much more peaceful and calm.

We look forward to nicer adventures with less cars whooshing by (and they really all seem to be in a terrible hurry).

A Very Froggy Adventure - Doode Bemde park, Neerijse

We are back from our break in Scotland and back with a good old adventure.

Today, was quite a strange one (as usual) and we started off walking in a place that was starting to get familiar.

We quickly went off track on to a steep uphill. After a bit of walking I found a small path leading somewhere. I was curious and followed it and it turned out that it led to an old bench facing the river. We stopped and had a little break and I noticed the bees and butterflies swirling around the plants. Then I thought of how much more peaceful the world could be without us humans. People say dinosaurs were terrorising the earth but we humans are worse.

But on to a more positive subject. Before the adventure we didn't know if we should go on a long route or a short one back to the car. We postponed the decision, based on how we would be feeling. I let Tonio choose, so he chose the longer route but quickly changed his mind and chose the shorter route because the passage looked nicer as we would be passing in between two rivers, and also since we had already been on the long route. After about 20 metres walking the short route he stopped and said we would be passing the short route in other adventures. But then I pointed out that surely if we would be passing the short route in other adventures we would also be passing the long route in other adventures. So we turned around for the third time and kept walking.

We saw the first river with a swan in it but nothing too special but in the second river it was covered with algae and I spotted a very well camouflaged frog in the algae. I said the whole thing looked like the green on a golf course.

After walking a little bit more we saw a whole hoard of baby frogs crossing the roads all around us. It was like lots of giant ants. The frogs must have been crossing the road from river to river. I don’t think I've ever seen as many animals (apart from humans) in my life than the amount of frogs crossing the street.

But at last, the adventure came to an end as I sprinted to the car and we drove home. Did you enjoy our adventure? If you have so then make sure to join us on our next one. Also, make sure to check out Tonio's blog called The Wanderer. But for now, Goodbye!

GianlucaDeGringu

[by Tonio]:

Next to the village of Neerijse, there's a lovely park called Doode Bemde. This is where our route passed today, along the meandering path of the Dijle river which gives the name to the Zuid Dijleland region where we have our walks.

Spring is quickly leading into summer and nature has really sprung into life now: fields dotted with different coloured flowers, bees busying themselves around them, tiny newly-hatched frogs leaping dangerously across footpaths towards the nearest body of water... The temperature was the perfect medium, the sun staying generally hidden behind thin clouds and thereby sparing us from too much glare. It was beautiful. The pictures can tell the rest of the story.

Charming Neerijse

A very muddy adventure - No. 207

Today, as said in the title, the adventure was filled with mud and moon walking. Much unlike the view we saw last week, which was filled with snow, the fields seemed greener than ever.

We started off walking down the same road where I had made a snow angel that now has gone to heaven and has been replaced by puddles of dirty water. We saw some chocolate that looked like the dried up version of the chocolate cake with icing. Every adventure I seem to end up talking about chocolate... [Note by Tonio: ploughed soil often looks like chocolate]

Before: "chocolate" with icing

After: plain "chocolate" with icing removed

I don’t say this much but in the first half of the adventure nothing very special happened. The view was amazing though. Especially when we went through a tunnel of trees (not the first time) and the fields had different patches of their own colour as usual. It was very nice.

As we passed by a nice looking church/chapel I saw a potential narrow passage we could go through. Now any of you readers that came from a while ago know that I’m a big fan of narrow passages. I don’t have a reason for it. Maybe I  just like the fact that it's pedestrian territory. It also feels like we are one of the first to walk there. But unfortunately, we had to continue going straight as our route didn't go through the narrow passage. Luckily, a few minutes later we found a narrow passage and walked through it. Ah, the feeling of walking through a narrow passage after all this time was great.

In the middle of the narrow passage, I spotted a sign that said something like Baron Restaurant. Because the sign was old we thought it would be closed but as we went down the path it was actually open. It was a Michelin star restaurant (basically a very good restaurant). We went in for a snack. I had water while Tonio had beer from Dijleland called Charlepoeng and we both shared a tapas full of little bites. It was presented very well and we started to realise why the restaurant had a Michelin star. And the prices weren’t even that expensive!

Through another narrow passage (yay!) We took a shortcut home because it wasn’t worth it going through the first part of the adventure again as it was very muddy and hard to traverse.

At last, we went back into the car and drove home... 

Did you enjoy the adventure? If you have, then make sure to join us on our next one. Also, make sure to check out Tonio’s blog called The Wanderer. But for now, goodbye!

GianlucaDeGringu 

[by Tonio]:

You wouldn't believe we started from a spot that we had walked through last weekend. These were taken close to our starting point from No. 207 today:

This is how the landscape looked the weekend before, close to the same spot:

If last weekend the ground was snowy, today it was mud that reigned supreme, especially in the first part of our walk.

The beautiful thing of these adventures with Gianluca is how each seems to have a character of its own. After "mudding" our way through the first couple of kilometres, we approached the village of Neerijse. It's mostly old buildings and farms. 

What a charming place.

Gianluca's legendary sharp observation power was in full evidence as he spotted a signpost to a brasserie in an unexpected and unlikely place: a narrow path next to a large green field.

It was the entrance to the back garden of a restored old building, now a Michelin rated brasserie. Curiosity and the promise of a rest, a snack and a drink got the better of us, so we walked in.

The young waiter suggested a platter of tapas and the locally produced artisanal beer Charlepoung - brewed in nearby Huldenberg. Plain water for Gianluca. We loved it.

A very snowy adventure - No. 205

Today, we had a long adventure. We went on and on about things and the adventure seemed to stretch on for ever. Not in a bad way of course.

We decided to go early in the morning before the snow melted. It was a good idea and we had a mix of snow and grass. It looked perfect for an adventure. If only Sue could have come with us on this adventure. It would have been even better than the last.

We started walking next to the fields of snow. It was such a difference from last week when there was no snow at all. Maybe a bit of ice but that was it. I managed to take a very lucky picture. I took a picture of Tonio walking and the view to his left. He turned to see what I was doing and I took the picture while he was turning. It ended up looking like he is looking at the view to his left. What a lucky picture.

We saw what looked like a chocolate cake with icing. The icing was actually icing (snow) and the chocolate was soil. That is the third time soil looked like chocolate on our adventures but this time it looked the most like chocolate.

Tonio asked me what frogs do in the winter. As they are cold blooded they freeze too, right? I answered by saying that certain types of frog do just that then continue their lives once the ice melts and there are others that find shelter in deep lakes where it’s less cold than the surface.

Towards the end I wanted to do an angel on the snow (a "snow angel") and this was the result:

And finally, we went back to the car and drove off. Did you enjoy it? If you have then make sure to join us on our next adventure. Also make sure to check out Tonio's blog called The Wanderer. But for now, goodbye!

GianlucaDeGringu 

[by Tonio:]

It snowed quite a bit on Friday and the following morning we woke up to a Belgium covered in white. The forecast was that the temperature would go up to well over zero during the day, so I suggested we go for this weekend's adventure on a Saturday morning, before all the snow melted.

What a show!

We parked next to no. 205, from where we had walked last time. Today's was, yet again, a continuation of the eastward progression, starting from the edge of Overijse into Huldenberg, Loonbeek and now Neerijse. This is almost all agricultural landscape: fields and farms. The last few weeks it was cold with sun and cloud creating a spectacle of their own. Today, the same terrain looked so much different covered with snow.

Different animals used different modes of locomotion along this passage

We appreciated, in particular, the "croaky" sound as we trudged on the fresh snow. We enjoyed observing marks made by previous walkers - human and animal. The arrow shaped prints made by pheasants, round shaped marks probably of a dog's paws, and of course human footprints, or rather shoe prints. At one point, trying to step on these same prints myself, I was puzzled at the long steps the previous walker had taken. Then it clicked, and as a (previous) runner I should be ashamed for not having realised this at once: they were the prints of a jogger.

Our first encounter with animals today was with horses. The poor chaps were too cold to take any interest whatever in us. They stood or lay on the ground motionless to conserve energy. Luckily for them, it would later warm up substantially. We also saw pheasants, a farm dog which wanted to play with Gianluca while he was trying to tie his shoelaces... and a silly man with a child's brain driving around in the country lanes with his 4x4 jeep or whatever. Gianluca recognised the same driver from a couple of weeks back driving a sort of rally car in the mud on that occasion. Mercifully, we encountered Mr Child Brain only once, although I suspect the tyre tracks we saw throughout our otherwise wonderful walk had been left there by him.

One animal that we didn't see, but which we discussed, was frogs. This was the result of my remarking on the croaky sound underfoot. I then wondered what happens to frogs when it freezes. Being cold blooded animals, I reasoned that frogs should naturally and quite literally freeze too. Gianluca then mentioned a species of frog that freezes itself in autumn to thaw back to life in spring. But I wondered about other species of frogs. I'll need to do research on this.

An old war bunker transformed into a winter shelter for bats

An hour and a half after the start of our walk, we came back to the car to notice that the landscape was indeed thawing out. We had come just at the right moment to experience the Belgian winter countryside at its most beautiful.