Distance: 7 km
With: Eleanor and Jordan
I've known Eleanor and Jordan ever since my first year in Belgium (1989!) when we were both here on Fulbright grants; I was in Leuven and they were in Liege. I've been lucky the past few years; as their trips to Europe have landed them in Belgium, we've made time to meet up.
Last year I suggested that we plan to do a walk together the next time they came. They are much more experienced walkers than I am; they've done many GR segments all over France and Belgium. So when they told me when they could meet up this year, I wanted to have an interesting route for them, which led me to choose the Wijngaardberg ("Vinyard mountain") walk not far from Leuven, where I'd be picking them up at the train station.
We had a great time hiking up the Wijngaardberg, wandering through the orchards on top (including getting lost for a little while; we were too busy talking and missed some route signage - you know how that goes when you have an afternoon to catch up on a whole year that's gone by), and then winding down through the vinyards on the other side. We stopped to light a candle in a roadside chapel (praying for safe travels for them the next day and exam success for my children in the coming weeks), and then finished our walk with a local beer at the very authentic cafe Bij Boeres next to the church in the village.
What a perfect way to spend an afternoon with old friends!
3 comments:
Every good run or walk should finish at a cafe. What a great way to spend time with friends.
Indeed a great way to spend with your friends!
Your 52 hikes has inspired me to do something similar once Bella is good to walk again. Will explain more on my blog when the time is there.
Glad you could spend good time with your friend. A walk is a good way to stay together and to visit beautiful places.
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