How come people have to make so much noise?

The village we live in is very green and rustic and it was also nice and quiet here till now!
It seems, with the sunny weather, everybody in our street has decided either renew the roof, dig a swimming pool, build an annex or completely rebuild the house or rearrange the garden. And the whole neighborhood enjoys the 'blasting' loud music which is obviously essential for a well done job.
The neighbors’chickens still do their best crowing and clucking but their lately rather fail adding some country allure to the village scenery.

Zwalmbeek

Strangely enough, I thought I lost my gardening passion while living in California. The reason probably was the heat that I can’t cope with very well.
Well, even in California I did some container gardening but founding the ripe tomatoes half- eaten on the ground every morning was rather discouraging.

Comparing with Moravia, here in Belgium the spring has already started at least one month earlier.
The nice weather makes me want to go out and get busy in the garden again.
Wasn’t this weekend weather just perfect for gardening?
And the work is so much fun with my enthousiastic little helper!


Even though one get pretty tired after all those spring chores we had to take advantage of the beautiful weather and headed out for a walk.
Not far away is the valley of the Zwalm with its pretty Zwalmbeek river.



The path along the river seems to be a popular destination for an easy Sunday walk. Some men walk in suits and women even in high heels! There are actually many places to rest, eat and have a drink in one of the romantic taverns.
The countryside is quite idyllic and very peaceful, with the river on one side and the meadows and poplar groves on the other.


One of the picturesque places is the tavern called ‘Little Switzerland'. Someone who lived here once found this place with its small pond, sluice waterfall and surrounding hills so beautiful that he compared it to the Swiss landscape.
It's a very idyllic location indeed!
Not only the tavern but also the hilly area is nowadays known as ‘Little Switzerland’.

The nicely restored 'IJzerkotmolen' is another remarkable historical building along the river. And it is still possible to grind here.


Of course the rotating waterwheel and the loud sound of water made the biggest impression on our Maarten.
Or was it the painful earwig bite?!

Raindrops keep falling

Finally a long planned trip to my home country, even though the beautiful Moravia doesn’t feel like home at all. However, the hills of Hostýnské Vrchy are where Maarten’s grandparents live and and its pleasant rural surroundings are a bonus.
I biked here many times in the past but there are still places I haven’t visited yet, such as the ruins of Obřany Castle hidden at the top of a very steep hill.
While Maarten amused himself by feeding deer and wild boars with děda, the hunter, Rob and I were puffing through the still wintery copper beech woods up the Obřany hill.

It was worth the climb even we were already tired after hours of hiking on the ridge. The information board showed how beautiful this castle used to be in its heyday. Being built without Margrave's permission it only existed for less than one century. For the romantic soul, according to legend, the castle was taken by the devil together with its cruel castle lord.

Unfortunately it started to rain when we got here. The rain quickly gained strength and made the remaining kilometers less pleasant. We were hoping for a warm drink at the pilgrim's hill of Svatý Hostýn, but it was closed probably for the off-season.

Neither my mom nor Milan could understand that despite the rain we wanted to make our trip to the nearby Slovak Carpathians.

Nevertheless, I believe, if you always wait for a good weather forecast, you will never get anywhere.

Maarten was happily getting all his grandparents’ attention again, so we could head out for some more strenuous hike. Without any difficulties, as expected, we found our destination, the Súľovské Skaly.

Despite the fog and drizzle the rock formations were spectacular. Erosion of the limestone and dolomite rocks formed this current fantastic shapes, various towers, walls and even windows.




For the very first time I saw the purple blooming Poniklec Slovenský (Pulsatilla slavica)!

After the yesterdays hike the easy ‘Náučný chodník’ (Educational Trail) should be exactly what we were looking for.
I thought to be able to read and understand Slovak language, but! I’ve learned there might be some important nuances. Like my perception of the Slovak word ‘chodník’. Compared to its Czech meaning ‘an easy path’ it simply means ‘a trail’!





The rocks paths were slippery and some ascent very steep with a quick elevation gain equipped with handrails and ladders. We truly praised ourselves for not bringing Maarten here.

The picturesque ruins of the Súľov Castle were one of the highlights. I must admit I didn’t dare to climb into the accessible tower. It was too narrow and I felt claustrophobic.
Reading the little information sign about the death of a young mother and her 2 years old son, who were struck here by lightning in 2008, confirmed my weird feeling about the place.
I joined Rob waiting patiently in the rain on a meadow down the ruin from where we continued this Educational Trail. At least that’s what we thought. We ended up on an unknown road kilometers away from our car!


However, we have learned something about the ways of hiking in the Slovak mountains. That may become useful in the future since we hope to come back soon!

Ooidonkroute 2

According to our optimistic Erwin Krol, today will be the nicest day of the week. Or was it of this spring?!


Rob is in Spain and Maarten is at the Dino camp digging into the past and investigating ancient creatures.

There is still no job for me in sight but should I mind?


What a wonderful day!
And I'm even more greateful for my good old bike!

Leeuwergem

Egg hunt, egg painting and I got even 'traditionally' whipped by my men even though with a single twig. Highest time to learn them both some more about the Czech traditions!
However, no matter how well intentioned, it wasn't to make me younger!


After a lazy day spent at Oma's house and hours driving on the busy Dutch freeway, I was hoping for a dry Easter Monday.
On the other hand the rain shouldn't be any reason for staying at home.




Maarten will find the worst mud and deepest puddles even on a sunny day. I have to admit that today was almost impossible to find a path without any mud.
And it was deep!




After taking a shortcut through the fields, along the ruins of an 18th century windmill, we came across a path leading through the park of the Castle of Leeuwergem.
Entering this surprisingly neglected wooded area brought an unexpected adventure.


Muddy paths, ponds and streams with rusted and decayed bridges, ivy- covered walls, remnants of buildings and old sculpture bases made this place a bit mysterious.
Also the path we followed ended suddenly leading us into a marsh and a narrow stream that we had to cross.



Blackberry vines grew wildly all over this seemingly abandoned beech woods making walking difficult. It didn't take long and we stumbled upon a fire road. At last it seemed we had found our way out of this 'enchanted forest' yet another obstacle awaited us. We were standing in front of a barbed wire fence! It looked like it had been climbed over numerous times.
And so did we even with Maarten and his bicycle!
Shouldn't parents set a good example for their children?!

I believe Maarten didn't even notice there was something extraordinary or even illegal in our today's adventure.


Yet, he still wonders what was that in the murky pond that surfaced with a big splash. Was is an otter, a whale or the trout which swallowed Mister Jeremy Fisher the frog?

Good Friday

It will be nice if there are any animals in this meadow.

Like a mountain lion, huh?

Hmm, very funny.

Nevertheless, the Flemish countryside is full of surprises.
Who would expect to see camels in a farmyard just minutes from Ghent?!

Good Friday means a day off work for Rob. Well, this is only the theory since he won't stop doing business even while rambling through the countryside on such a beautiful day!


The well known medieval castle of Laarne was one of the highlights of our today's hike.
It wasn't actually for the first time we visited here. But this is something we only realized at the castle's main entrance.



This will probably happen more often in the future since there are only a few historical places in Belgium we haven't visited yet. But most of them really are worth visiting again.

The Ghent's Houtland should be the most wooded region of our province.
Also the origin of Laarne's name, the Germanic word 'hlaeri' reveals its landscape character, a wooded marshy land.

It stayed dry and the trail was mostly paved so our shoes didn't get muddy at all. Despite the cold and piercing wind you could smell the spring already.



Through some villages, woods, along several small duck ponds the trail led us to the castle of Runenborg, a really neat mansion nicely surrounded by woods and a lake.



It was such a pleasure to see all the farm animals and their babies at pasture on the green meadows. I know Maarten would love to see the sheep with romping lambs and the feeding newborn colt.




Our route partly followed 'Het Heksenpad', The Witches Path. This trail is based on the historical events of fall 1607, when four local women were burned at the stake for witchcraft. 'Het Heksenpad' leads along the residences and the legendary Sabbath and execution sites of these poor women.

Sounds interesting! Maybe something we should walk next time.