Wildflowers in January?!

Not only the plants go crazy!

Creatures of the Night

Can a day hike make your week?

Zulzeke

Over the language border

This trip between the rivers Dender and Mark is another walk crossing the language border for several times.






Maarten was too tired after his adventures with Beavers the previous day and considering the length of this trip we were not able to take the detour to the local nature reserves.



Maybe next time.

Around D'Hoppe

Even the heavy rain in the morning couldn’t stop us getting outside. After a hectic week full of new activities Maarten insisted to head for the forest.

And you’ll never guess why!

He was traditionally chasing after grasshoppers and frogs and collecting nuts, acorns, chestnuts and other windfalls.
We may do some crafts together.




The cows and bleating sheep grazed in the pasture around the old “Ferme du Lieutenant”, a scenery as if the time has stopped here.





Too bad we had to share the country roads with the stinky and noisy groups on motorbikes.






PS: Isn't it nice to just go out in your back yard and pluck some mushrooms for dinner?

And they were yummy!

"Nothing is as pleasant as an autumn day..."

During our last walking trips we accidentally came across so many blackberries that after we filled our tummies we continued picking them in our empty water bottles.

There were loads of ripe elderberries too.

So we ended up coming home with really heavy backpacks.

This was my first time I made jam and elderberry syrup and both turned out to be quite a success.


Maarten was excited to decorate the homemade cake with fresh berries but, as you might suspect, he was not the one who picked them.





Chasing grasshoppers and froggies and comforting a lost birdie is way more fun!

't Burreken

While Rob went on a spree in Amsterdam my usually easy task to amuse Maarten was kind of difficult today.
Perhaps because of the warmth we both were tired already in the morning.

I guess, I’ve never found the four-leaf clover before and when I was about to explain to Maarten how difficult it is to find one, he just picked one straight at his first try!
I wish his luck will never leave him!


Well, he was less successful with whistling on grass yet he made some progress before we finished our today’s hike.

The woods of Everbeek

Some of the nicest woods of East Flanders are around Everbeek.
The woodland of Trimpont Valley was covered in omnipresent blooming wild garlic flowers, a spectacle that made our little nature lover exclaim ‘I’ve never seen such a beautiful forest before!’


Rob fished out a part of a 19th century gravestone from a creek after having lunch on the remnants of a washed away stone bridge.
Yet Maarten was most happy with his find, a pheasant tail feather!



Minutes’ walk further this old cross grown in a knot of an oak tree reminded that someone died here in 1843.





Rob probably found our today’s trip a bit boring claiming that Maarten can use some more adventure.
That’s probably why he suggested a shortcut through a wet beech forest and along the grassy paths where stinging nettles and blackberry brambles were abundant.
Thanks to the adventure I got partly disorientated and having only a guidebook with a no detailed map we ended up walking down the road direction Wallonia.


That added a couple more really dull kilometers to our total.

't Burreken

Apparently Maarten is influenced by his děda! He wants to go to the forest to ‘shoot’ animals with his self made gun, a branch with two rubber bands stretched between the stumps.





Nevertheless, he comforts me, there will be no dead animals afterwards, since he is 'only pretending'.
What a relief!


To find ‘a forest’ nearby is a tricky matter but thanks to the internet and a pile of library books I usually succeed in finding some trees.

The nature reserve ‘t Burreken is not much of a big forest but a really nice nature spot.


After yesterday’s 11 km trail the shorter ‘Salamander route’ was probably the best choice for us, but still, Maarten was so enthusiastic chasing butterflies in lush meadows. He didn’t seem to be tired at all.




Mostly small deciduous woods, with incised creeks, meadows with cows and donkeys grazing side by side...
Sadly enough, despite it’s reserve status also this idyllic landscape suffers from illegal human activities like cutting of firewood or even baiting meat with poison to kill foxes.

Goudbergroute

The dark sky stayed full of heavy rainclouds. Only a few fanatic hikers and mountain bikers didn’t mind the muddy paths and drizzle.




Small country roads, cow paths, variety of forests and pretty views of the Flander’s probably most beautiful landscape reminds me of old masters’ paintings.




Omer Wattez, Schorisse-born author wrote praiseful of this region and he is probably the one who named it the "Flemisch Ardennes".

Along the path there are several information signs with Wattez's poems declaring his love for the nature.

Muziekbos

I don't have much affinity with the Mother’s Day.
Like everyone in an ex socialist country I grew up celebrating of Mezinárodní Den Žen (International Women's Day) on the 8th of March.
I have no idea if this is still observed in the Czech Republic but, as far as I remember, March 8th used to be celebrated quite exuberantly, especially in the workplace.
Once, encouraged by my Dutch friends, I sent a Mother’s Day card and my mom's reaction was obvious “Why is that?!”

People worry about the presents for their mother(-in-law)s and honestly, even now that I'm a mom, Mother’s Day still doesn’t mean much to me.

The modern mama’s ultimate Mother’s Day wish? Breakfast in bed and sleep late?
I don’t care to eat in bed but it was nice Maarten let us sleep till 8 this Sunday!

I found it a bit weird to receive the (for days discussed secret) present in the car but Maarten insisted.


When I opened the red package he started to recite this poem by heart which really touched me.
I knew they were discussing cars in the class these days, that’s why they made this cute candy box for mama’s car.
Chapeau bas, at Miss Geneviève creativity!
And surely enough Maarten was most interested in opening the box and ‘showing’ me the colorful candies.


Despite the long hike Maarten amused himself wonderfully all the way through the beautiful forested Maarkedal. What a big treat for me!

Right, no one would believe he was impressed by the picturesque villages and fabulous panoramic views.

Well, he wasn’t but also he seemed to find the blue and sweet smelling carpet of wild hyacinths fascinating.






But the variety of the trail, sometimes leading through dense lush vegetation and particularly the farm animals at pasture along the grassy path were the real source of excitement.

And what about the red balloon from Leontýnka?


Too bad he got stung by the hated stinging nettle again. No need to say he doesn’t care that this really is harmless compared to the poison oak we had to deal with in California.

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?!

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?