Tuesday 12 January 2016

Heverlee - 60 to 62


Today has been an adventure alright. We have started the 60's and we couldn't find any good passages to go from. We decided to go somewhere and back. In this case we went to 61 then 62 and back.


We found a tunnel and Tonio pretended that he was in a church and was saying things that the priest said. We came to a conclusion where we wanted to check out what there was at the river next to us. We decided to go from a path not from the map but it was too muddy. "We'd better go back," Tonio said. "Why should we?" I replied. "After all we do call them adventures," I said trying to convince him to say we can go walking on the mud. I like walking on the mud, we call it Moonwalking. "Alright, we can go," Tonio finally said. So we went, walking in the mud, squelching through.


"Private, please do not enter," I read out loud. But there was another way. "Can we continue please," I begged. "Alright," Tonio replied instantly. So we continued and finally we came to a dead end. "Should we try another way," Tonio asked. "My feet are getting tired," I replied which meant no.  When we were coming back Tonio did another few lines of the priest in church and we came back. "That was fun," Tonio said. It was very fun indeed. And join me on our next adventure. Bye ;)

GianlucaDeGringu



[Tonio]: Into the 60s, centred around Heverlee, close to Leuven. It was difficult to plan a loop from no. 60 that was not too long, so we decided to walk towards 61 and 62 and then back along the same path. It was a rather straightforward route, with two highlights along the way.

From 60 to 61 was a long gravel path into the forest. There we took another path straight towards the E40 autoroute. In fact, the swish of traffic could be heard throughout our walk today, except...


... underneath the road itself! Midway through the tunnel Gianluca remarked that the acoustics were exactly the same as inside a church. Which was true, so I improvised a sermon there and then, complete with the reverberation effect. Coming out of the tunnel at the other end we noticed that a couple of walkers had entered the tunnel during my speech, so they must have heard me being silly. We pretended not to notice them as they passed us.

Through the tunnel we saw the post with no. 62, which meant we had to walk back. On the map it showed there were some tiny paths that led to a lake, so we went a bit further looking for these. We did find the one leading off the main path, but it was so muddy that I said, "No way!"

Gianluca, however, relished the idea of using his Wellingtons. "This is an adventure, isn't it?" he pointed out. It was as difficult as it looked, but eventually we came onto dry terrain, except that we were stopped by a no entry sign: "PRIVAAT".

On the way back, we were able to admire a fine mansion in the distance...


... and Gianluca was much amused when I tried to take a picture of a duck floating in the winding stream on our right and the duck kept going behind the bend before I managed to get the camera ready.


As I remarked to Gianluca, as usual the adventure was unusual. Each walk is distinctly different from all the others, and interesting things happen even in apparently boring routes like today's.

Monday 4 January 2016

Adventure from point 59 at Leefdaal

Today has been a cold day for us. We started at 59 but Tonio forgot his camera so we had to squelch back in the mud and get the phone. Then we took the picture.


We saw quite a few dogs on the way. Tonio isn't a big fan of dogs. We also met a few donkeys, three to be precise. Tonio called them and one of them came. Tonio stroked it and the other two came. I stroked one too. They were so cute.


Then we had to go on a road. There was no pavement so we had to walk on the street. I found a stick and started walking with it. Tonio thinks I look like Moses when I do that so I pointed out that I should be in front.

We came to 509 when there was a fork. we could either go the long route to 502 then 501 or go straight to 59. Tonio wanted to go the long route but I said I was tired and there wasn't anywhere to sit. Bad idea. The passage was so muddy and slippery. Tonio almost fell 4 times and I fell once. It was quite uncomfortable for the rest of the journey.

Of course, the wintery scenery was beautiful as usual. The trees with no leaves, the muddy ground, the clear fields, the wind blowing against us. Definitely wintery.




But, we had fun and took in some lovely views. And I'll see you on the next adventure.

GianlucaDeGringu

Sunday 3 January 2016

Making new friends on a bleak wintry afternoon



[Tonio]: When we arrived, these three chaps were standing next to the fence at the other end of the field. I called out, "Insellmilkom," the dark one looked up and started to walk slowly to our side. A few seconds later, his companions followed suit.


We chatted to them awhile and they let us us pat their foreheads. Nice chaps.

It was the beginning or our 'adventure' from Number 59. The ground was muddy, the air cold and the sky a wintry grey with a timid sun somehow making its way through the cloud cover.

Many people hate winter and complain incessantly about the weather. I choose to appreciate the special character of the season. The following pictures capture the mood of this afternoon, bleak and beautiful.





Trekking in Leefdaal

We've been rather lazy lately. Adventures have been few and far between. They were centred around a village called Leefdaal. Going through the photos stored in my phone, I thought it would be a pity to let them sort of go and be forgotten. So I decided to upload a few here.