Maggie B sends her "Thanks"!

Dear Walkers,
Maggie B has sent her "Thanks" to all of you for the signed walking photo that she finally received from us after it was resent to her having been returned in the mail. Oh well, it's complicated but she says "Hi"to you, too!

Mon., Apr. 27th Paulette's Grimbergen Walk

Paulette's walk this afternoon took place in Grimbergen, a little town located off the Ring road at exit #7. We parked in a parking lot near the church of St. Servaas in the center of town and walked from there to find the start of our route.

Mon., Apr. 27th Paulette's Grimbergen Walk

Today's walkers stopped for this group photo next to a very attractive little chapel tucked away along the route. It is the first one that we have seen with a slot in the front where one can deposit coins which we thought was quite inventive! In addition, we were happy to welcome a new walker, Dalia, 2nd from the left and we hope she will join us again, soon!

Mon., Apr. 27th Paulette's Grimbergen Walk

We followed our leader, Paulette, along the Maalbeek pathways that wandered through the outskirts of Grimbergen on a lovely route. We had mixed sunshine and fast passing clouds with occasional windy gusts with temperatures in the 13 - 15C range which was good weather for walking!

Mon., Apr. 27th Paulette's Grimbergen Walk

We found another sunny spot so we grabbed the opportunity to pose on the bridge over one of the Grimbergen mills. It was just about long enough to hold the 10 of us who worked our way on to it.

Mon., Apr. 27th Paulette's Grimbergen Walk

Eventually we grabbed a couple of tables outside of the "Tommenmolen" and settled down for a while to relax and take refreshments.

Mon., Apr. 27th Paulette's Grimbergen Walk

Having put in our orders for our refreshments we sat and savored the time to just be outside at this time of year in such a picturesque little village. Some of the ladies in addtion to their drink requested a hot soup, a croque monsieur, a crepe or even a very traditional Belgian white cheese on brown bread with chopped onions and radishes! It was that kind of an afternoon and a pleasant place to sit and enjoy life.

Mon., Apr. 27th Paulette's Grimbergen Walk

Eh Voila ... Paulette, our leader, checks the map for our return route.

Mon., Apr. 27th Paulette's Grimbergen Walk

It was then time for us to wend our way back over the route we had come in on to return to Grimbergen Centre and the car park. What a lovely afternoon though we had for this excursion!

Thank You Paulette and Sandy!

Not just for the bluebell walk, but for all the walks!

Fri., Apr. 24th Sandy's Bois de Halle Walk

We met up at Vlasmarkt dreef in the area of Acht Dreven (where the 8 roads converge) in the Bois de Halle (that's 1500 Halle for those with a gps) Click here for a Google Map of meeting area for today's long anticipated walk in the Bluebell forest. This is one of the walks that Sheila has done so well for us over the years. Paulette and Sandy were somewhat challenged by her map but still managed to take the group around through some of the most colorful areas which we all wanted to see. The timing didn't quite work out for us to make our way to the restaurant/cafe in 't Kriekske by foot but we were able to drive there directly from the car park and therefore end our afternoon on their back terrace under the trees before heading back to the cars for our drive home. We were all very glad to have the beautiful weather for this afternoon's walk!!!

Fri., Apr. 24th Sandy's Bois de Halle Walk

Okay ... one more Bluebell photo with the long afternoon shadows ... OR, ... for a look at even more photos taken by Janet Click For Link Here.

Fri., Apr. 24th Sandy's Bois de Halle Walk

Just another pretty view as we wandered the Bluebell forest. There were so many ... We hope the ladies who brought their cameras were pleased with their results!

Fri., Apr. 24th Sandy's Bois de Halle Walk

And, ... here is today's group of walkers ... at least those who were present for the photo. We had a few who didn't quite make the sitting as well as one who unfortunately came to the wrong meeting spot. Hopefully, next year we will get it all together! What a grand weather afternoon we had for wandering through the Bluebells. We had a new walker, Anne-Marie, (front row pink scarf left center), and a guest, Monique, 2nd row (2nd right) who joined us today. Welcome, Ladies!

Fri., Apr. 26th Sandy's Bois de Halle Walk

The weather finally cooperated for us to do the Bluebell walk this afternoon and we were able to wander amid the pathways in the Bois de Halle.

Fri., Apr. 24th Sandy's Bois de Halle Walk

As the afternoon progressed the shadows deepened in the hillsides that we passed through and we saw a myriad of shades of blue and lavendar as we passed by.

Fri., Apr. 24th Sandy's Bois de Halle Walk

The good news was that we found out we were able to DRIVE to the cafe/restaurant in 't Kriekske from the Acht Dreven area since the road was open during weekdays! That made is possible to get there in a reasonable amount of time. With 20 of us though ... the only tables we could find where we could all sit together were in the shady area of the terrace which was unfortunately too cool ... so we chose to split up in order to get a little sunshine. Here are the ladies at Table #1.

Fri., Apr. 24th Sandy's Bois de Halle walk

Table #2. The ladies here found partial shade which made the photo taking a bit challenging. They look though more than happy to sit for awhile and enjoy their drinks on such a lovely weather afternoon!

Fri., Apr. 24th Sandy's Bois de Halle Walk

Table #3 ... This group of smiling walkers were pleased to find a spot in the warm sunshine and were even more happy when one of the ladies took it upon herself to hastened our drinks along by taking our orders directly to the kitchen! That seemed to work and probably saves us a lot of time since there seemed to be only one waiter to serve the entire terrace.

Mon., Apr. 20th Paulette's Neerijse Walk

It was in front of the church of St. Peter and Paul that we parked and then gathered this afternoon on the main street, Dorpstraat, in the center of Neerijse for today's walk. We had 18 in attendance and none of us were to be disappointed. The weather was spectacular and many spring blossoms were in bloom. Although we do not have a Google map of the walk, Jennifer, did advise that the walk took 1 hour and 59 minutes and with our stops we covered 7.2 kilometers! I think that allows for 2 crepes AND a coffee or tea ... don't you?

Mon., Apr. 20th Paulette's Neerijse Walk

Paulette started us out down an incredibly lovely lane of beautiful pink cherry trees in full bloom which seemed to go on forever. Could anything be more spectacular this time of year??? We felt very lucky indeed to be able to apprciate this spring treat today. Many thanks, Paulette!

Mon., Apr. 20th Paulette's Neerijse Walk

This looked like a perfect spot to stop for our group photo this afternoon in front of this picturesque chapel ... so, we did!

Mon., Apr. 20th Paulette's Neerijse Walk

And ... off we went under clear blue skies for a delightful 2 hour walk in the beautiful countryside of Neerijse! With a temperature of 18C it was a perfect for us and many of us were able to shed our jackets very shortly after the start of our trip.

Mon., Apr. 20th Paulette's Neerijse Walk

It was such a lovely spring day for our walk we were all more than happy to follow, Paulette, our leader across the planks, through the fields and along the streams as we made our circuit this afternoon. At the bottom photo we see Paulette in the light green sweater with hat and walking stick as we took a short break enroute.