Vaalbeek - adventure no. 117

Another adventure, another record. Today, we not only had the coldest adventure in adventure history, but also the only adventure that was under 0 degrees.

We started off with a sign saying 163 ahead. We couldn’t find where 117 was so we decided to do the picture at the end, not knowing that 117 was literally right behind where we parked.

117 was far away from 116 where there was forest but we still managed to end up in a forest even though it was a different forest.

Winter has started, was the first thing that came to my mind when I looked around. Most of the leaves were gone, the trees and the branches were brown or black, as if they were dead. The best thing about it though was that it was like we were in a sea of leaves. Their colour hadn’t completely turned brown so it was like the ground was made of leaves. Tonio thought it was all very grim. There were trees that were cut off and placed on the ground everywhere.

Towards the end we passed by a lake and at that point I thought that it was a mix of many adventures that we posted a long time ago. First I thought of it as the adventure where we had a cafe and Tonio told me about his profile picture and later on I thought it was the place where we found a toad. Both times we were at numbers we had already walked through so we had definitely been there before.

Finally, we walked back to the car (after taking a picture of the sign saying 117) and I sprinted the last bit as I always do, we went in the care and drove home... Did you enjoy our winter adventure? If you have, then there are many more coming soon so make sure to join us in our next adventure. Also take a look at Tonio’s blog called The Wanderer. But for now, I hope to see you next time in Adventures In Dijleland!

GianlucaDeGringu



[by Tonio]:

There are two types of cold. There's the "fresh" type, which, even if the temperature is below zero is tolerable, I would hazard to say even enjoyable. The other type is cold and damp and penetrates deep into your body.

The latter is what we had in this weekend's adventure. In one fortnight since our last outing (the intervening weekend we went to Malta) autumn gave way most definitely to winter. I have to say, unless it's covered in snow the landscape is much less attractive in winter than the other seasons. So what would one expect, now that we're in winter and the landscape is not picturesque... but that the first picture I took today was when we had not even left the car at Vaalbeek, where we would start our walk.

We have just arrived, and the landscape shouts out loudly: it is now clearly winter time

At -1 degree Celsius, this was probably our coldest adventure yet even if you include Iceland. But apart from the cold, today's walk was mostly about the trees, in their vast majority without any leaves now. In the beginning I was rather upset to see the remains of several freshly sawn off trees that must have been over a hundred years old. Gianluca reassured me that for every chopped down tree it's now compulsory to plant a new one. In Iceland, according to him, they plant two new trees instead because they're trying to "greenify" their country. I'm not sure I agree with that. Their landscape is so unique, and beautiful, that covering it up with trees would spoil it somewhat.

As we went on, Gianluca pointed out various interesting trees, root formations, double trunked... there was even a triple trunked tree.

We walked fast today. Gianluca had his table-tennis training at 2 p.m. and the route was 5.6 km long. A vigorous pace might help warm us up a bit (it didn't) but, in particular, it would take us back to the warmth provided by the heater in the car.

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.

A pug, the Tarzan tree and lots of fallen leaves

Adventure from point 112

Today, was quite a straightforward day. We got out of the car and started walking.

The strange thing today is that there isn’t much to talk about. Whilst we were walking we met a couple and their pug, the cutest pug in the world. I wish I could get a pug but Tonio doesn't allow me. L

As we sauntered on, we saw a gate to our right. There was a sign on the other side of the gate that said in Flemish that said, ‘army territory’. Tonio decided not to take a picture of the sign because they might think that we could be some sort of spies.

Later on (we were still next to the army territory) there was another sign saying in Flemish once again, ‘dog patrolling’ which was quite surprising since there was no sign of dogs or humans leading the dogs anywhere around where we were.

After moving away from that, it started raining but not only rain, but also leaves. We had a bit of fun trying to catch the leaves mid flight. We caught around three but came close many more times.

Towards the end we found two abnormal trees. We called one of them the limbo tree because it looked like someone was doing the limbo. We gave two names to the other tree: the Tarzan tree and the snout tree. The Tarzan tree you can see why we called it that and the snout tree because the end of it looked like a pig's snout.

"The Tarzan tree"/"Snout tree" - a show of great strength by Gianluca

Ok, I’ve realised that there was quite a lot to talk about. We went in the car and drove to a friterie, which is French for a place that sells mainly fries. We went in there and had a takeaway because the friterie was closing in 5 minutes. Tonio had fries and sparkling water and I had fries, chicken wings and still water.

We strolled back to the car, ate our takeaways and drove home... 

Did you enjoy our adventure today? If you have, then make sure to join us on our next one in Adventures In Dijleland!

GianlucaDeGringu

[by Tonio]:

Our walk today was one of the most straightforward that I can remember. Except for a bridge crossing and coming back from a different point across the same road, it was mostly along wide paved paths in the Meerdaalbos forest, the loop being roughly the shape of a square.



Most, but not all leaves, have now fallen from the trees, creating a thick reddish-golden-brown soft carpet on the ground. Each step produced that pleasant shuffly crunch, typical of an autumn stroll in the forest. Around us, leaves floated down in erratic paths. So erratic they're almost impossible to catch. Almost... Gianluca managed to catch one or two.

Along the way, a couple with a pug caught up with us. I like pugs. Gianluca patted the top of its head. We smiled at them and they walked on. That's the way it should be with dogs. Any more and it's too much. They bark. They wreck the house. Not to mention the toilety stuff. But as long as you don't need to look after them... This pug was okay: funny and friendly.



Close to the end of our walk, the leafy rain slowly changed into a watery rain, the real wet thing.

No problem. The car was only a few hundred metres away.