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".]
