There is a nice hiking opportunity right here in the village. But walking the same area every day even on different paths and in different directions becomes boring after a while.

At least once a week I want to drive somewhere where can I enjoy the change of landscape. For months I haven't seen any hills or forests!

And again this Saturday morning we woke up to flurries of snow! Even though I've always enjoyed this beautiful white scenery, this time it also meant my planned Ardennes trip was thwarted once more.

So instead of that the boys built a big snowman in our backyard and we 'traditionally' walked the local Gust De Smet trail like countless times before.




Even more snow was expected for Sunday. But this time the forecast was wrong! Even it was freezing the sky was clear promising good hiking weather.


But because of the snow we didn't go to the Ardennes anyway.
The Flemish Ardennes, which for us is less than a half hour drive, are at lower elevation and therefore a good alternative for a hiking trip without snow. This time, however, we choose Nature Reserve of the Pays des Collines. This is actually the Walloon counterpart of the Flemish Ardennes, just over the linguistic border in Hainaut.


It is less crowded and more authentic than its Flemish equivalent. The landscape is hilly with nice views over valleys, woods, fields and farmyards.
The hills are too steep for growing crops and therefore some ancient woods were spared the deforestation. How lucky we are!

Those are the reasons why I picked this particular hike. Not only because of the sweeping views and the Les Hauts panorama. Maarten doesn't appreciate that yet and he probably will not for another decade. But rather because of the diversity of this landscape and especially because of the woods.


And yes, hiking in the winter with a four year old is less pleasant or convenient. Luckily there were many animals in the farmyards we passed which Maarten always enjoys; and he could slide all the way the icy roads and paths...
In California we usually combined our hikes with a swimming or wadding opportunity for our little hiker.


Seemingly the cold Belgian weather doesn't disturb him at all. Even on such a chilly day it's impossible to keep him out of the frozen puddles. Those are simply irresistible. I usually carry extra clothes and shoes and also this Sunday his waterproof hikers were soaked. Luckily the sun kept us warm all the time.

We could even enjoy our picnic!

Thanks to the snow, wrong map and my bad navigation we probably extended this 10 km loop for at least another 2 kilometers.
Anyway, it really was worth it!