Mother's Day Hike in Bertem Wood

I knew exactly what I wanted for Mother's Day and so I asked my kids if they were up for a family hike - thankfully, they were all free yesterday, and the weather report was decent.  Florian offered to plan a route for us in Bertem Woods, where he frequently runs - I was excited about this because I have never been to Bertem Woods; even though it is just on the other side of Leuven, the walking map system I usually use to plan walks doesn't include that area of Flanders.  Which is a shame because it turned out to be a cool place to walk!

Florian planned a route that would end up being about 12 km.  We agreed to meet up at the carpool parking on the Brusselsesteenweg in Herent, where the trail begins.  I never even knew there was a carpool parking there - it was well hidden between the ramp to get on the highway and a local garage.  But we found it, parked and headed out, by which time it had stopped raining.  Perfect!

The path wound us up along the highway into an open field.  We crossed through the field and entered the woods at the bottom, and wound our way up through the windy forest paths towards the village of Bertem, which is about 6 km outside of Leuven.  The woods were beautiful this time of year, bright green with new growth and still filled with the last of the wood anemones (Florian said a couple weeks ago they were fantastic).  I will have to remember to go back earlier next spring to get a look at them.

It was a challenging path with quite some ups and downs.  Once we got near Bertem, we wound out into the fields again and as we approached the edge of the village, we saw there was an ice cream shop set up in the garage of a local chocolatier.  So of course we treated ourselves to a scoop (or two!) and then continued on our way, winding back into the woods and then finally, for an incredible finale, out through a field full of colza in full bright yellow bloom - amazing.  We spent a lot of time taking pictures (I think I got some good shots for my Christmas card this year!) and then we headed back through the fields again, back to the car.  

It was a great hike and the best way to spend Mother's Day with my kids.  I feel very blessed!

National Park Hoge Kempen Trail Walk

 

A small deviation from our Extratrail adventures this weekend - we signed up to participate in the National Park Hoge Kempen Trail Walk/Run in Maasmechelen.  Stefaan and I were planning to walk the 12 km route while Florian was going to run the 22 km route, which would include running up two "terils" (this is a specific Belgian/Northern French word that refers to the steep, perfectly shaped conical hills that are created from piling up earth extracted from coal mines).  

The Corona-proof organization meant that we had to pick a specific time slot to start - only 80 runners/walkers were allowed to start the trail during each hour slot.  We picked 10-11 am on Sunday, Valentine's Day, knowing that we would need about three hours to complete the course.  I was excited to do something that was organized, and looking forward to perks like porta-pottys at the race venue, something we don't always have when we do Extratrails, with cafés and such being closed due to Corona at the moment.

We had had a cold week in Belgium leading up to Sunday, with a good layer of snow that had stayed on the ground for a week.  We knew the trails were probably going to be slippery, but the weather forecast was really good - bright and sunny and supposed to be getting up to 6°C.  We dressed for the cold in layers, put on our hiking boots and headed out.

Maasmechelen is a short hour's drive away, and we found the designated parking easily.  The only downside was that the parking was a 1.3 km walk from the start location!   But we looked at it as a warm up, and it took us through a very fancy neighborhood with enormous houses, which was interesting to see.  The start location was a youth hostel right on the edge of the National Park, and there was a row of porta-pottys ready and waiting.  Other than that, there were no facilities - due to Covid - no catering foreseen, nor aid stations along the trail; however we knew that and were prepared with sandwiches and plenty of water we were carrying with us.

So all we had to do was get started.  Florian headed out first and we followed behind.  The friendly man at the start warned us that the trail was dangerously icy in many spots and to be careful.  We took his advice very seriously - neither one of us wanted to fall - which meant that we started out slowly.  The first part of the trail wound through a wooded section of high pine trees, which was gorgeous with the bright winter sun filtering through the trees.  It felt great to be out and the landscape was beautiful.

After a while, the forest made way for a more open landscape and we came up around a ridge that had a view on a deep valley with small lakes at the bottom which we assumed had been dug out for mining purposes.  All around us were the dried and dead looking scrubby heather plants - but come August all that heather turns an intense purple.  For a long time I have wanted to come to the National Park in August to see this, but have not yet gotten around to it.  I am thinking we need to come back this summer when the heather is in bloom. 

The trail was challenging at some points but definitely not as steep as the Extratrails we have done.  It wound us down to one of the lakes, and then back up again to more heath, and I kept trying to imagine how it would look with the heather in full bloom, as I enjoyed the sun on my face.  At about 8 km, the trail split and the 22 km looped off in the direction of the terils - I was glad we didn't have to hike up those, as Florian told us later they were really tough (especially considering his legs were already tired because he ran a 24 km Extratrail in Stavelot the day before - he is training for a 55 km trail race at the end of March).  By this time we were able to pick up our pace a bit - the paths in the more open areas had thawed a bit and were less icy.

We finished the route after almost exactly 3 hours.  Florian was there waiting for us, having come in about 15 minutes sooner.  We picked up our goody bags (another fun perk of an organized event!) and after that longish walk to our car, we headed home, very happy with our Valentine's Day adventure together.

Extratrail Series #3 Spa

 We left early with Florian this morning to tackle our third Extratrail route - and we were all levelling up today - Florian was planning to do a red route, and Stefaan and I were going to do a blue one, in Spa.  Also, all of the Extratrails have a nice amount of snow on them, which was going to be an additional challenge for all of us.  I was a bit apprehensive about how slippery the trails were going to be - so much so that I didn't sleep very well!  Boo!

We decided to go to Spa for several reasons, the biggest being how busy it has been in the Haute Fagne area of Belgium lately, lots of people driving in to remoter villages and recreational areas to sled, ski and walk in the snow for the past couple of weeks.   They actually closed access to some of these areas, because the crowds of people had become unmanageable.  We felt like Spa, being a bigger city to start out in, would be more accessible, a little bit easier to drive into (big national road) and to find parking, and we were hoping the tourist office would be open and have public toilets.  Also, I am fairly familiar with Spa, having done their big trail/walking event "Les Crêtes de Spa" twice now with Ingrid.  

Florian's route, which was about 20 km, was going to roughly follow where Ingrid and I had walked on that organized event.  The route Stefaan and I were going to do, which was going to be about 10 km, was on the other side of the town, which was completely new for me, and which I was looking forward to.

We got into Spa with no difficulty and found parking right in front of the Radisson Hotel, near the base of the funicular (the only funicular in Belgium, it takes people up 80 m to the Thermes de Spa above the city).  The Extratrail routes start at the Tourist office, so we walked over there and luckily it was open and had nice clean bathrooms!  Score!  Once we got our pit stop taken care of, we all headed out.  The four different Extratrail routes start out together for the first couple kilometers, but Florian's pace is about double ours, so he got ahead of us right from the start.

The trail takes you up through the town to the steep hills on the north side, a pretty spicy winding trail up to the Thermes, where it took us right past the top of the funicular station and wound us down again, one part a quite challenging descent (especially with all the slushy slippery snow on the trail) which brings you out at the far end of the city park that started from where our car was parked.  Then it wound us right back up again, on another side of a side valley, through the woods, and then down again, and then up again - it was relentless and our first three km took us an hour to complete!  By then we finally got to the split in the trails - red and black continued on to the other side of the town, towards the ski piste and the fagne, and the blue and green continued north towards Theux, through a beautiful forest and with some welcome

respite from climbing, before winding us back around in a big loop up and down towards the town again.  

I have to say, all the climbing was totally worth how beautiful it was to hike in the woods there today - the nice layer of snow made it a true winter wonderland, and at certain points it was so quiet and peaceful.  Once the sun came out and started shining through the trees and glittering on the snow, it was breathtaking.  We really enjoyed ourselves and were happy we had come out for the day.  It took us a good three hours to finish the route.  We met Florian at the car (as per usual he got there about 15 minutes before us), but not before we stopped in at the tourist office for another pit stop and a lovely tea room patisserie right on the same square, to pick up some coffee and hot chocolate and some cake to take home with us.  (Another reason for choosing to start in Spa today - we had high hopes we'd be able to get a hot drink afterwards and thankfully, it worked out!).  All in all it was a great day and we really felt like we were on vacation.  We definitely recommend the Spa Extratrails!