16th of April 2010 - The countryside walk in Borgloon/Grootloon

Weather predictions for Friday the 16th were rather good for walking: overcast, with a slight breeze and temperatures that would rise to 13° celsius throughout the day. I took the 09:17 bus (23A - the bus to Tongeren) at Sint-Truiden railway station and descended in Borgloon at 09:45. Not knowing if anybody would join me, I waited till 10:00 as I had announced.
Nobody showed up, so when the towerbell sounded 10 o' clock I set out all by myself for 12.5km through the Borgloon area. Borgloon coming from the word "Borg" meaning fortress or castle and the Germanic word "lauhun", which means wooded hill. So the town is basicly called "Castle on the wooded hill".



The first part of the walk, indicated by the yellow markers on the signposts, takes you over the remnants of Borgloon's city walls and past the chateau on the hillside. From the very beginning Borgloon made me happy. I felt why I loved this town so much right away and if ever the possibility is there, this is the place where I want to settle. A small medieval town with lots of history and friendly inhabitants. After you have gone down the hill on which the towncentre is situated, you have to cross the N79 motorway (Sint-Truiden - Tongeren). Mind the traffic as this is a rather busy road at times. Once across this road a dirt road takes up a light hill towards the orchards that are surrounding the hamlet of Grootloon. On this first part of the path you already have some splendid views of the hilly Haspengouw countryside surrounding Borgloon. Through the meadows and orchards the path continues towards Grootloon. You actually pass through some meadows that have cattle or sheep on them. A small path with a fence on each side and enclosed by turnstiles takes you safely past these animals. Once past the last turnstile you reach the church of Grootloon. From here the path makes loop around the village, following the GR for some time.
The way connects to the old Roman military road, called "de Romeinse Kassei" (the road from Boulogne sur mer in France to Köln in Germany) The Romans paving stones are no longer visible and the road has been reinforced to support the tractors that use them nowadays, but still... it's not hard to imagine a regiment of Roman legionaires marching through towards Tongeren. (called atuatuca Tungrorum back then. Tongeren is Belgium's oldest city, founded around 16 B.C.)
After following the military road for a short while the path turns South towards Magnee bos and Manshovenbos. Two small wooded patches, remnants of the woods that used to be in these lands before Roman occupation. Magnee bos is privately owned and access is forbidden. Manshovenbos is a nature reserve and so there as well you are not allowed to enter the wood. From the dirt road along Magnee bos you take the cobblestone road past Manshovenbos and a large farm estate called Manshovenhof. The cobblestone road crosses a road, watch out for the traffic and then takes you to the hamlet of Sassenbroek. On your way in to this place you pass a nice and cosy little holiday house called "het saske" (www.saske.be) which can be rented for up to 8 persons to enjoy the beautiful Haspengouw countryside.
From Sassenbroek an unpaved hollow road takes you up the Haringsberg. A slight climb and only a trial for rise up ahead. On top of the Haringsberg you make a right turn and rejoin the Roman military road. A short but steep climb up, only to take you down again on the hollow road on the other flank. From this high point you can already see Borgloon again. The descent along the hollow road takes you back to the N79 motorway, which you again have to cross. (once again watch out for the traffic).
Once safely across the road, the small and picturesque streets take you all the way back up the hill gradually climbing back towards the town square.
I added a small walk around the town to get to 15km. My pedometer showed 16570 steps for 15km in 2 hours and 36 minutes. You can immediately jump in your car or take the bus back to Sint-Truiden or Tongeren. Another possibility is to sit down in one of the many nice little cafe's and enjoy a meal or a well deserved pint of beer. For the fans, brasserie "De Burcht" serves all 7 Trappist beers.
Check the pictures I took on this walk HERE

Friday 16th of April - 12.5 km walk around Grootloon

To keep up practice and to step up the rhythm, I have decided to walk the countryside walk of Grootloon. A 12.5km walk in and around lovely Haspengouw.
All friends willing to join are more than welcome of course, but if nobody shows up, i will walk all by myself. The way Scotland was initially planned.... my very own crusade :-)
I chose the Grootloon walk because it was the longest they had around here. It will be a bit weird as well. Since Borgloon, the starting place for the walk, was the last place I called home, it will be special to be back there. Lots of memories and unhealed scars there. But hey... may as well start replacing them with some positive vibes. Grootloon here I come ;-)

12 till 16th of April

The good thing about night shifts is that you always have a couple of days off after them. I'm at home from the 12th till the 16th, restarting with late shifts on the 17th.

As promised I will REstart to run on the 13th.
This time I won't let go. Training for dwars door Hasselt, for which I officially inscribed today.

I also want to make a local walk during these days off. I will go and buy the maps of the Local walks on the 13th and choose one. There seem to be several very nice walks around my hometown.

Lately my heart and mind have been wandering off to the Ninglinspo valley



Time to gather a party and rediscover this beautiful place...

...anybody wanna join?

Mechelen => Sint-Truiden Walk 2.... completed!

Sunday the 11th saw us (Cilia, Gabi and myself) complete the second part of our walk from Mechelen to Sint-Truiden.
It was a bit hard to find a suitable day in our plannings and this one was the best solution we could come up with. As for me, it still was a tough undertaking. I was at the 6th in a series of 7 night shifts at work. This meant I only had got home at 0800 in the morning and slept till 1330, when i got up, because Gabi would come by to pick me up at 1430. It also implied that after the walk I would have to go work to do my last night shift of the series. To top all of this off, I also had to take my selor exam the day after at 0845 in the morning... quite a challenge.

Today's walk would take us from Haacht (where we left off last time) to Leuven. We were joined by Kristien (Cilia's colleague) this time. Liesbeth (her other colleague) canceled, due to a better offer that came through. We started out at 1600, since I had been sleeping all morning because of my night shifts.
Like last time Cilia had plotted the course in advance. Taking us over the GR from the place we left off at the end of walk nr 1 to Leuven. We started out from Haacht railway station and right away decided to turn into the fields avoiding the main roads, changing them for a little cross country stint, till we encountered the first red and white GR markers at a small bridge in the fields. we followed the GR from there. It took us right back to the railway line, which we followed till Wespelaar-Tildonk. There we followed the Dijkstraat for a while and turned right past the communal sports center. After the sports fields we pretty much walked across the open fields in the direction of Wakkerzeel. We walked past an old mill at the outskirts of this village. A place that had been nicely rebuild to make comfy modern apartments. Well it looked very much like a place shared by several people with a shared court yard and garden. Very nice place.
From there the landscape rose slightly, this was the Kwellenberg. This short easy climb took us back to the banks of the Dijle river. From here our road turned East again and we saw the hills that surround Leuven on the horizon. Cilia promised us we would have to climb them later on...
Somewhere along the course, when we stopped to eat something, I discovered that in hurrying and being only half awake when i was gathering my walking gear, I had completely forgotten about food and drink. Luckily for me the fellowship kept me alive and fed me and gave me something to drink.
We continued, meeting the railway line now and then, and crossed the E314 motorway. All off a sudden the hills seemed very near. We continued through a residential area, and past a lumber mill and there it was... the start of the climb. On a forest road we climbed up the hill. No gradual rise like the Kwellenberg, but quite a steep climb. All in our own stride we all reached what looked like the top. Kristien proved to be an excellent climber. Without any visible effort, she climbed the hill leaving all of us behind and welcoming us back at the top. Well, like i said, what we thought was the top. From there the path descended a short while and turned left along the flank of the hill. A couple of minutes later we were climbing again. This time it would take us all the way to the top of the hill. Once again we all tackled the climb in our own tempo and once again Kristien shot away from us. Just great the way she seems to climb effortlessly. I'm gonna have to train on a similar climbing technique i think. Will come in very helpful next year when i go to Scotland.
At the top of the Hill we walked along the path and began our gradual descend to the Norbertine abbey that was to be the end point of this day's walk. We arrived at the panorama point overviewing Leuven... very nice view. Only wish I had brought my camera. By the way we got off the hill and arrived at the entrance of the Provincial Domain of Kessel-Lo, it was slowly getting darker. And our timing came under pressure. It was already past 1900 and I had to start thinking about work. Cilia had to get home to Karel and the kids and Gabi and Kristien... well guess they still had the drive back to Limburg ahead. All these combined made us decide to take the bus to the railway station of Leuven. Too bad. I really would have liked to arrive at the abbey at nightfall, like a real Pilgrim. But alas... time left us no other option. Maybe we can start out from the monastery for the third part. That way I can feel like the Pilgrim departing from the monks on to new horizons :-)
Anyhow. The party split at the Leuven Station. My pedometer had counted 21104 steps, for 20 kilometres in three hours and 27 minutes. Not bad...
It had been another nice afternoon in splendid company. I must admit that I am really looking forward to part 3. It was also good to hear that Kristien seemed to have enjoyed the afternoon, since at the parting of the fellowship she said "see you for part 3". So our little party of three has now become a party of four...

A last short note on my new walking shoes. The withstood the walk really well as did my feet. No sore of black toes this time. A slight pressure on my front sole, but i think that can be resolved by other/better walking socks. All in all the my Lowas were fantastic, even without much testing or trial walks. Hurrah!!

Mechelen => Sint-Truiden Walk 2 - Haacht to Leuven

Part two of our walk from Mechelen to Sint-Truiden is scheduled for the 11th of April. Hoping for fine walking conditions and a little less wind than we had on the first episode. This will also be the first test of my new walking shoes.... fingers crossed and hope that there will be no black toes this time.
Participants will be, Cilia and Gabi, but also Kristien and Liesbeth (two colleagues of Cilia) and myself of course..
More news will follow at the end of the week!

New walking shoes

I got myself new walking shoes today... after trying on several pairs and testing them on the test course in the shop, I settled for Lowa's.
They are the harder (Type B) shoes, which makes them suitable for trekking with a backpack as well.
The first real test will follow on Sunday the 11th...

Restart to run...

The first attempt at Start to run failed, because of lack of discipline.
You have to commit yourself to stick to the schedule... i didn't and from skipping one day came another and then another and in the end you don't bother anymore.

The drill sergeant had a serious talk with me. I'm getting a second chance. Monday the 12th of April will see me go for the second attempt.... the right one this time.
"Dwars door Hasselt" here i come....

FOR SCOTLAND!!