Friday 23rd December in the clouds.

An extra day of and some pre-meals exercise was the aim when we went to Deurle on the GR128 to cover the 18 km to Sint Pieters railway station in Gent. Lijn 77 covers the whole distance and delivers a punctual service. The path follows may a time a tarmac road and is often in build up areas. A showpiece of the economical wealth of many Belgians who obviously exchanged beautiful woods for enormous houses with huge gardens where often only a gardener will be seen. I did not enjoy this trip since this was reminding me of developing countries with the well known income gap between rich and poor. Once upon a time.... the countryside must have been stunning with the slow moving river Leie and probably unprotected shores not hidden by homemade piers.
Distance 18 km. Flat
Rating: *

The GR 579 and self punishment


Saturday 17th December 2005
With Simone and Mississippie as excellent companions. After a night baby sitting at Inanda and Arie's home at the Tortelduivenlaan in Brussels we had an early morning start and went by car to Hamme-Mille. From here to the starting point at Jodoigne with TEC line 18.
Plan: GR 579 from here to Bossut.
The starting point is 700m from the village centre on the main road to Wavre. Take the Rue de Chebais in southern direction and follow the well marked path. Many poles used for the well known red-white GR marks were covered by snow from the north west face. Soon we ourselves in hilly countryside. The air temperature was 2- 4 degrees Celsius and soon after we set off the clouds released vast quantities of snow. At regular intervals the sun took a peep to view the magnificent landscape.
The track: 450 m after starting the heighest point was reached at 136 m and at km 16,5 45 m was the lowest. Total climbing was 448 m.
A large part of the track runs though open countryside and we never experienced so many muddy roads in one day. (Rain and snow the previous day were probably the culprits. Only Jodoigne offers some restorative facilities. Hot chocolate would have come as a gift from heaven. Instead we quenched our thirst with icy cold water from our bottles.
Total distance covered: 18 km.
Overall rating: ****