Horses, rams and future projects (Adventure no. 122)

Today, instead of looking at the beauty of the fields, we decided to talk about our plans in the future.

(Spoiler alert. If you want a surprise, skip this paragraph.) We talked about going to Edinburgh. From what Tonio said, we would travel a lot like we did in Iceland. We would spend a day in Edinburgh and then go towards the north - as Tonio likes to say, off the beaten track. We also talked about possible future things to do once we finish the Dijleland map. We thought about exploring all 19 communes of Brussels. Maybe, because I will be older, I might be able to plan those adventures myself. Exciting times ahead!

We were in deep conversation throughout the adventure but we were interrupted quite a few times. Obviously, Tonio was taking pictures of the scenery which we should have looked at more because it was very nice. We were also interrupted by a horse, who was really kind to us. We said hello to him, Tonio took a few pictures and he even managed to stroke the horse a few times before the horse got nervous and shook his head. We politely said goodbye and walked in to see another horse. This one however was in the middle of lunch and you know how animals are in the middle of eating. He didn’t even look up. We left him to do his business (which was also polite of us) and continued on.

Towards the end we met two rams who, at first, weren’t interested and walked away. We then tried to make ram noises (good thing no one was around. We would have looked like fools!) The rams looked up at us and started slowly walking towards us. They walked faster and faster until they were almost running towards us. They stopped, with temporary fascination for about 30 seconds. But we must have been boring humans because they walked away after a minute. Tonio called them ‘bdabad’ which is Maltese for rams but also figuratively used as savages. I can see why rams in Maltese is figurative for savages.

And, after the long walk, we returned to our car and drove home... Did you enjoy our discussion/adventure? If you have then make sure that you join us on the next one in Adventures In Dijleland!

GianlucaDeGringu

Ps. Check out Tonio’s blog called The Wanderer. He posts on holiday adventures with me and my family or just by himself. Goodbye!

[by Tonio]:

We had a pleasant, easy stroll today, mostly through country lanes in between crop fields at Vaalbeek, close to the Meerdaalwoud forest, our last venture to this rather distant section of the Zuid Dijleland hiking network.

We befriended, first, a horse and towards the end of our walk two rams (I think they're rams). The latter acted rather aloof in the beginning, turning their backs to us and walking to the other side of the field when we came next to them and said hello. We felt rather offended, but then we thought of talking to them in their own language, making animal sounds. It worked wonders! Each time they looked up from their grazing, and when we kept calling out to them they decided to move over to our side. It was heart warming to see both rams purposefully crossing the entire length of the field to join us.



Most of the time today we discussed future projects and adventures, including an upcoming trip to Scotland, possibly exploring the different communes of Brussels once we cover all the numbers in our map of Zuid Dijleland, and also about activities for Gianluca at home. We were so engrossed in conversation that we hardly saw the time and the kilometres go by.



At the very end, Gianluca insisted on walking all the way back to no. 118 so that we would have "closed the loop" properly, instead of turning left after the last corner to reach the car. Pointless, in my opinion, but never mind. It was yet another thoroughly enjoyable two hours out in the Belgian countryside.

[P.S. The "closing the loop" thing is a bit my fault from a past adventure, when I insisted on walking towards a wooden number post as otherwise our adventure "wouldn't count".]

Hot turnip soup (Adventure no. 118)

After our holiday break, we have returned to our weekly adventures. Today, because of the cold weather and the freezing cold we decided to make it a short adventure.

We started off by walking by my favourite type of adventure between two active farms. We saw some type of vegetable on the floor and Tonio thought that they were turnips. The field became clear that it was growing the “turnips” because of the mountain of them we saw a few seconds later.

We still got to go to the same forest we've been going to for the past few adventures. We managed to remember one of our paths that we had been in two or three adventures ago. It was the same adventure as when we had seen the military base.

We walked out of the forest into more farms. When we found number 119 we had to walk to one of the few starting points for newcomers . It was a strange path made of grass and two edges. It curved around one of the farms and into a parking lot where the starting point was. Then we had to do a bit of off-roading (more like on-roading if you ask me) and we went to a cosy café which was all about cycling. We both bought a soup that could have been turnip soup...

After some more on-roading I saw the car and, as always, sprinted to it. We went in the car and drove home... Did you enjoy our winter adventure? If you have then make sure to join us in our next one in Adventures In Dijleland!

GianlucaDeGringu

P.S. Make sure to check out Tonio's blog called The Wanderer.  He writes about his journeys to different countries. Hope you enjoy!

[by Tonio]: It didn't take us long this 2018 to go on our first 'adventure'. Being at the peak of winter, and myself still recovering from a flu and an ever shaky backbone, we kept it short and sweet. It makes sense not to stay out too long in the cold because it would take away most of the enjoyment.

Our not-too-long walk started at 118 at the edge of Vaalbeek, next to a quaint roadside shrine.



We turned into a country road that leads into farmland. It was mostly farmland today, and the exact weather and ambience to experience the bleakness of winter in Belgium.

Gianluca considered this plain too flat to give a good picture, but I thought I could prove otherwise.

Contrary to many, I find the desolation and miserable appearance of this season to be rich in character. When Gianluca asked what I meant by this I found it difficult to explain. All I could say was that the pictures I was taking might hopefully serve to express what I meant.

Shortly before we reentered the car, we stopped at an empty Flemish pub - empty except for the owner who was watching a TV transmission of a mountainbike race being held in nearby Heverlee - for a much needed mug of hot soup.

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.

Adventure 116: coming out of the forest

Today, was our shortest adventure in this series. There is a pattern along these adventures. After the break, we had our shortest adventure yet, then our longest, then last adventure we beat the longest adventure and this adventure, we beat the shortest adventure.

We started off walking on the bridge between the plains and the forest. It wasn’t actually a bridge but it was a patch that separated the plains from the forest. On that subject I asked Tonio if he liked the plains or the forest better. Tonio said the forest at the moment because of all its colours. I understand why but I think because of the repetitivity of the forest I chose plains. And the plains wouldn’t be as repetitive as the forest is now because of the diversity of the plains.

We took a right into the forest and the familiar colours burst into view. Then, one way or another, we started a discussion about outside the universe. Then that conversation developed into reincarnation and our beliefs and hopes.

Tonio was still taking a lot of pictures and we saw that some of them were proving to be very similar. This is one reason why we need to get out of the forest. Luckily, 117 (our next adventure) is outside of the forest.

I've just realised, there is another pattern in our last 4 adventures. 4 adventures ago was a lot about the scenery. 3 adventures ago it was all about conversation. Last adventure, was mostly about the view again and this adventure we were talking most of the time and it was almost as if we were ignoring the view.

Tonio was taking pictures of the ground. ‘Why are you taking a picture of the ground?’ I asked. ‘Because it looks nice. Now see it on the blog and you’ll understand.’ He replied. And he was right.
It’s quite strange and ironic that even though this was our shortest adventure, this is probably the most I’ve written about an adventure in a long time.

At the end, we went into the car and drove away... Do you think that this adventure was short but packed? If you do think so, then make sure to join us on our next adventure in Adventures In Dijleland!

GianlucaDeGringu 

Ps. A few weeks ago we went to France on holiday. Make sure to see what Tonio commented about the few days we were there in a blog called The Wanderer. Bye!

[by Tonio]:

In contrast to last week, today's walk was one of the shortest we've ever gone in Zuid Dijleland. We chose a smaller loop, starting from no. 116, because the following day Gianluca would be taking part in a competitive table-tennis tournament, so it wouldn't be a good idea to tire him out.



Bit by bit, we're beginning to come out of the forest at Oud Heverlee. In fact, we started at the edge of the forest so that on one side we had a view of open fields to our left. Further on, we moved back into the forest, which, contrary to what I had predicted the previous week, was still proudly wearing its coat of colourful autumn leaves. This year, we have really enjoyed this beautiful season to the full.

Driving back, I remarked to Gianluca that today's adventure was one of the most uneventful ever. He disagreed. I'm quite looking forward to his version, so maybe I can discover the events that I can't recall anymore.

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.