Walcourt-Famouilx

The GR12 runs from Amsterdam to Paris. On Saturday 12th November the 2 hrl. train brought us in 14 min. from Famioulx to the starting point. The weather forecast was good and sunshine and strong winds accompanied us when we left Walcourt to enjoy the rolling hills. Many of them still covered in green. The trees are partially devoid of their green foliage. After mere 1 km we were stopped to continue our path into the forest because of hunting. A victory of the appreciation of man's primitive roots. It took us a good 7 km (2 hrs.) to circumvent the woods using concrete roads. nevertheless, the landscape was beautiful and hills were followed by wind breaking forests. The sun left us and in darkness we entered Famioulx.
An very enjoyable stretch of the GR12 with lots of ups and downs.

Our rating: ****

Saturday 21st October 2006

A south westerly wind made the big pine trees sing. It felt a bit spooky. They were planted to cover the land dunes. A large section of the GR564 we did today ran through this kind of landscape.

We took bus 180 from Lommel and got out at Hechtel’s major road crossroads. It took some serious deduction to guess where to find the GR markings. Eventually we found them east of this little village. The signs where rather poor and the track followed tarmac and concrete roads. Not to our liking. After crossing the main Lommel Hechtel road from east to west we got into a military area and at a distance we heard the shooting. Somewhat further north we joined a newly made concrete road obviously created for cyclists and reached the huge and equally impressive German war cemetery of Lommel.

39000 Soldiers are buried here. We were told that each cross represents 3 soldiers. The entrance is a typical German contemporary building and the rather strong massive monument at the head of the actual grave yard made God part of the war. Most dead are boys just short of their twenties. So, probably only parents, by now already a long time dead themselves, were the main people who grieved.

This cemetery is a stark witness of the crime we call war.

We reached Lommel city app. 7 hours after we left Hechtel. This walk was about 26,5 km.

Personal rating: ** maybe *** in summer.

8-10-6 Staartse heide

It felt like summer apart from the thin mist which gently covered the fields in between the woods.
We left for Ossendrecht and followed a self made route using the new topographic map from Garmin. The churchgoers went home and contrasted with our hiking outfit and probably our appearance too.
North it went and soon we entered the pine forest from where drinking water was pumped to dryer areas. It was quiet and the pungent smell of the mushrooms made it more than clear: it was autumn.
After rounding the Zwaluw meer we crossed the main road from Bergen op Zoom to Antwerp and entered the "Staartse heide". My route went into a protected area and passed the foresters home. Not even the noise produced by walking on the gravel that surrounded the house apparently alerted anyone.
Obviously, the paths were hardly trodden and our conscious minds made the trespassers felt a little awkward. Just along the Belgian border we were in non reserved territory.
In 5 hours we covered almost 18 km on this most fantastic day hike.

Our rating **** (including the forbidden track) otherwise ***

16th September 2006. The GR12

Putte-Brasschaat. A stretch of the GR 12 just into Belgium. It was a bright sunny Saturday. At 10.45 the bus dropped us in Putte at a stone throw from the Ravenhof, a beautiful castle bathing in the morning sun and surrounded by a medium sized park. The sun still got filtered by some mist. It felt idyllic and was a very relaxing start. We were the masters of the silence.

We followed the WW1 anti tank ditch while the sun battered our heads at temperatures around 23 degrees Celsius. The ditch itself was marked with concrete bunkers but the surrounding water was clear and looked full of life. The abundance of trees provided enough shadow.
It was a big contrast with the posh houses with its Belgian and Dutch cars parked on the paved driveways. These houses and the tarred roads formed a background of our trip we definitely did not like.

The GR was not well marked on the Franselei so we walked an extra 2 kms. In the forest we fortunately retrieved the track which compensated for our pessimistic mood. The rest of the trip was fine again and at the castle in Brasschaat we left the GR which runs to Schoten and walked another 5 km to our car at the Donk church bus stop in Ekeren.

All in all a nice trip on a fantastic September day but unfortunately too much in a build up area.

Total distance covered: 28,9 km. GR12: 18 km.

Personal rating: **

GR129j trekking

What was supposed to be 3 days in the Haut Pays of the Belgian province of Hainaut became a 2 day trek. The new junction GR between the 122 and 129 called GR129j runs over a distance of 51 km south of Mons.
We left the car at Givry, at the connection with the 129, went by bus to Mons and from there by train to Quervain and again by bus to Angreau (2,5 hrs).
To start on the western connection in France at 3,8 km looked too difficult to organize transport to. So we started off around 16.00 in full sunshine and went off to a B&B which happened to be in a little town just short of Athis called Fay le Franc just half a km from the border with France.
The whole route was beautiful, hilly and the Bois l`eveque was a stiff go. Virtual no other hikers (as usual) The slightly hilly countryside provided no difficulties with the lowest point at 45 m just after Angreau and the highest at km 30 with 160 m. The large fields were partially ploughed while others were still green.
The track passes many small rural villages which forms a nice variation of the scene.
After a good night sleep the next day was a long one. We did not find a place to spend the night and decided to go back to our car in Givry at 31 km from the starting point. The last kms could have been more pleasant if we had not felt too tired.

All in all rating ***

The GR128
From Wolvertem to Mazenzele

8-7-2006. Wolvertem on the old freeway from Antwerp to Brussels. We parked our car in Mazenzele and left a bike (for me to come back on) in Wolvertem. Right onto the small fields paths and away from tar and car.
Almost the entire route consisted of non paved roads and amazingly we encountered few dogs and only an occasional sewer smell bothered us.
Halfway we "discovered" the starting point of the GR126.
It is a fairly flat section of the GR128 with a max. altitude of 80 m. The lowest point being at 20 m.
It took us 6 hours to cover the 19,9 km.
Personal rating ****

Poco de Inferno 22-6-7

Manteiras in the Portugese Serra de Estrela was the starting Point of our 18 km trip to the Poco the Inferno, an impressive waterfall in this protected highland area. And due to the Portuguese dislike of strenuous walks there is a fully paved road to this site. Not that we saw many people on this weekday: only a Belgian couple enjoying the absences of humans. The 6 km path to the Poco is largely unsealed and fairly steep. The scenery is beautiful. The way back is all tar but that didnÂ’t matter so much because there were few other traffickers.

A triangular walk of 18 km. Fairly good ascent the first 6.

Personal rating **

Deep in the valley on 20th June 2006

Portugal, Porto de Mos. A South African Young couple exploits an old paper mill on a 20 ha large farm. Walking: free. So we took to the hills in the bright cool morning. The path was hilly but far less than what we were used to. Soon we get a nice, although hazy, view on the local Moor castle which gradually disappears behind the hill. The farm borders the National Park. We head north and planned to come back along the valley floor. Suddenly our path ends in an new olive yard so we followed the dry river bed. Pleased with the progress we thought it to be a good decision until pools appeared full with weeds and rimmed by wild rose bushes and the spider branches of numerous blackberries. Our simple knife was all we had so we had to take chances, got badly bruised and did not care anymore about staying dry. The water was clear and clean. Stone walls at the river banks indicated human interference and the nearby farm. We strained our stiff muscles to the limit to climb it and arrived in a backyard and eventually to the farm’s swimming pool. We made it at last.

Distance: 7,3 km. Highest point: 286 m. Lowest 146 m.

Rating: ***

A blistering hot Saturday: 10th June 2006.

We knew that it was going to be hot the coming week so we thought to enjoy the GR128 (from Wissant to Aken), at least a part of it, as soon as possible. Mazenzele to Aalst. We took the bus in Aalst to Asse en changed there for another 3 km to Mazenzele. The sleepy busdriver almost forgot to drop us at the right busstop.
Some walking around the place made us find the GR markings. Unfortunatly it does not pass the beautifull Roman chuch and the authentic café. Crossing the main road was enough to enter fields and woods. The latter were more than welcome because the temperature started already to rise at 10.15. We and the dog needed lots of water and we took it before we felt our drying mouth. The hills were slichtly undulating and the road was most of the time unpaved. The markings were reasonable to good and we missed them only twice. This area appeared less build up then south of Aalst. We loved it very much. In Moorsel we had a beer and were still so thirsty that I drank it too fast with some dizziness as an unwanted result. The last stretch followed an old railway track also used by cyclists.
We took 5 hours to cover 16,5 km.
Personal rating: +++

GR5a Zandbergen-Aalst

27 km stiff walking. At Aalst we took the train which dropped us right on the GR track in Zandbergen. Surprisingly many non surfaced roads meandering through the large gardens of a build up area. We did not expect this. There was little cover from the sun and an occasional `very' muddy stretch. The air cooled us down and with plenty of water we made it back to Aalst.
In a good 7 hours we covered the well marked flat route.
Personal rating:+++

GR128 sweating on Saturday 13-5-6

A beautiful, slightly overcast day with expected temperatures around 20 degrees did us decide to hike from Berlare near Dendermonde to Aalst. Bus nr 54 brought us from Aalst railway station to the starting point just 1 km from the bus stop (30 min).
Soon after walking on some surfaced roads we were pleased to see the real landscape: low flatland with lots of ponds and mud pools. Of course in this time of the year with lush vegetation. The old courses of the river Scheld were clearly identifiable.
The weather was perfect with sometimes even a bit to much sun. At Appels we crossed with the free ferry, as sole passengers, the river and continue surrounded by fairly busy roads through the various Flemish villages to Aalst. A beer and a view on the beautiful church of Mespelare (850 inhabitants en at least 2 bars) was a perfect rest stop. It took us another four hours to get to the car.

Distance: 36 km. Surfaced roads: about 50%. Little shade. Flat.

Personal rating: ***

La salud del sierra.

22-2-2006. Crosses on hilltops are unresistable when you got the right genes switched on. From our hotel room this holy symbol lured us into the high mountains around Real de Catorce (2600m) in the Central Highlands of Mexico.
Of course perfect bright skies.
After passing through the old rooms and courts of the abandoned San Augustin convent we followed a nice donkey path on the grey bare mountain. We only encountered an, some fright provoking, sheppard and a lonely cowboy before we sat alongside the once thought unreachable cross. The serene view on Real was what we got.
A fine day with mild climbing. It took us a couple of hours to go up and 1,5 to go down along a barely marked path.

An easy trip. Rating: 3/5.

250 m plus

2nd April 2006

Walcourt-Philippville: a part of the GR 12 covering the beautifull hilly farm landscape with the wild current Yves and small villages bearing the marks of the economic misery from 50 years ago.
We encountered high winds, bright sunshine and a couple of fierce thunderstorms. The ambient temperature of 11-14 degrees Celcius was ideal. Simone's neuropathy of her right arm was not, but in spite of this she made it: a total of 21 km.

Duration: 6 hours.
Personal rating: 4/5. Best suited for a bright cool day without rain.

Pathfinding made a sport.

Saturday 4th Februari 2006

We decided to make a short hike on the GR561 from Mol railway station to Geel guided by the 1985 Michelin map. The latter we treasure because they contain those important GR trails.

We soon discovered that a large section of the GR561 was transformed into a surfaced road lined by big estates. Anyway, just before reaching Bel, at km 7, the faint red/white stripes were replaced with bright ones as were Simone's mood as well as mine and that of the dog who hates the impersonal large windy metal beasts.
The sky was slightly overcast and the sun didn't manage to warm our heads. We did not encounter anyone who was so brave to face the sun's 4 degrees heating effort.
All in all we enjoyed the 18,5 km easy hike although we did this trip some years ago in much more sunny conditions.


Personal rating: ***

Sunday 22nd January 2006

Sunday off but the sun planned an simular duty. Since Inanda and Arie wanted to visit us we took a stretch of the GR126 from Wetteren to Berlare. From Wetteren railway station it is another 4,5 km to the trail head. Innitially a rather boring track with lots of tarmac and concrete. After Uitbergen beautiful "moers"and a reasonable surface of the dirt road. At Berlare we left the GR and crossed the Schelde to go back to our car at the Schoonaarde railway station. Total distance: 21,5 km of which 4,5 km to the start and 2 kase to the parking lot. The dull weather prevented me from taking any pictures. This is not really an good excuse: I probably was just to lazy to unpack my camera.

Personal rating: ***

Saturday 7th January 2006

This was the first hike this year. We like to spend as much time in nature as possible. In 10 years our environment will probably have changed a lot.
This time we walked the GR 579 from Bossut to Huldenberg. Simone and I took the Lijn bus number 344 at 10.20 in Huldenberg and arrived 30 minutes later at the familiar bus terminal in Hamme Mille. From there it is a 3 km hike through the fields to the starting point at Bossut village. The once muddy roads were solidly frozen allowing a better pace than at previous walks around here. There was little sun but the abcense of rain made it perfect hiking weather.
The total distance on the GR was 13 km with a variety of plains and woods. This hike is beautiful but not advisable on a hot summer day. We enjoyed this trip.
Total trip length: 16,5 km. Total distance hill up: 140 m.
Personal rating: ***