11th Annual Beer Festival on the Grand Place - Sat. Sept. 5th 5pm

Please see the information above about meeting up for the Annual Beer Festival on the Grand Place ....!!!

Mon., Aug. 31st Paulette's Tourinnes-La-Grosse Walk

Today Paulette led us on a new walk in Tourinnes-La-Grosse which was about a 45 minute drive for some of us coming from downtown Brussels. All 15 of us though finally assembled at the appointed meeting spot near the church of Saint-Martin under shady trees. It was a hot weather summer day with temperatures reaching up to 29C however with occasional breezes we managed to make our way around the planned route. Although the pictures do not show it much of the walk was over open fields. Jennifer who provided the gps route/Google map of the walk indicated that we did 6.51 kilometers in 1 hour 57 minutes and expended 366 calories which was not bad considering the heat ...

Mon., Aug. 31st Paulette's Tourines-La-Grosse Walk

After about an hour and 15 minutes we stopped to consider whether to continue on the planned route or to take a shorter route back and divided up the group with 10 choosing the shorter distance and the remaining following Paulette to do another hour. Since the photographer chose the shorter route there are no more photos of the walk. In addition, some walkers chose to stop at a small store/cafe that looked like it might offer cool refreshments on the return route but not all of us ... so, no photos!!! We heard, however, that the stop was a success with some of the ladies enjoying delicious crepes!!! Darn ... missed that ...

Mon., Aug. 31st - We Happy Few!!!

We actually have a photo of the triumphal return of those Happy Few (or 4 of the 5) who actually completed today's walk in 29C heat. Our thanks to Margaret for sending it on for the blog. Paulette and the rest look extremely happy to be approching the final leg of the outing this afternoon!!!

Fri., Aug. 28th Sandy's Auderghem Walk

After waking to much rain, Sandy decided to change today's walk to Rue Nisard as she was concerned the tennis club would be closed for our refreshments. By 13:00, however, it was bright and sunny and we had a lovely walk through the Foret de Soignes from this new location. It was quite windy though but even so we warmed up quickly and were able to shed our jackets soon after our start. Can this really be the end of August??? Where did the summer go? We can't complain ... It has been one of our best for sunny skies!!!

Fri., Aug. 24th Sandy's Auderghem Walk

We took our refreshments on the terrace of Au Diable Vauvert in Auderghem where Sheila joined us after her walk. Many of the ladies ordered their hot mint tea which is usually pretty special ... today it was a little disppointing perhaps because there were so many of us to serve. In the last photo Joan got up close and personal with an attack bamboo plant ... the wind was a contributing factor!!!

Mon., Aug. 24tn Paulette's Overijse Walk

It was another hot summer day of about 28C which greeted all of us this afternoon for our WIC walk at 13:00. Still, we had about 20 or so ladies show up for this outing!!! We met up with Paulette, our leader, at the parking lot on Welriekende Dreef in Overijse for the start of the walk which, thank heavens, was pretty much under the trees. We crossed through tunnels under the Ring both going and coming back to our starting point at the car park. It was lovely in the forest and delightful to be there.

Mon., Aug. 24th Paulette's Overijse Walk

Here we passed through the next to last tunnel on our return trip before adjourning to the Chalet de la Foret for our refreshments. Their terrace was full but we were comfortable sitting inside with the windows open to bring in the breezes. We had to divide into 3 tables to accomodate all of us. We met up with Sheila and the Philosophers and were able to all cool down over some ice cold drinks! Whew ....

Fri., Aug. 21st Sandy's La Hulpe Walk

We had quite large number of ladies gather for today's walk from the back parking lot of the Chateau de la Hulpe and some more even joined us after the walk for our restaurant stop. We were all savoring the end of the summer weather which has been quite respectable for Brussels this year with much more sun than rain. Dare we mention it??? It was lovely under the trees though and after our hour and a half walk at quite a good speed we were ready to join Deborah for a nice cold drink on the terrace of the cafe. Here's one to you, Ladies!!!

Fri., Aug. 21st Sandy's La Hulpe Walk

After such a pleasant afternoon walk around the back grounds of the Chateau it was equally enjoyable to claim our space on the back terrace of the cafe L'Homme Bleu where we were able to put 5 tables together to accommodate our large number. Having set a heat record in Belgium yesterday of 38.2 C we were all more than happy that the heat broke after the evening thunder showers providing us with such nice weather for today's walk and for enjoying our refreshments that followed it.

WIC Summer Coffee Morning - Aug. 20th

Here is a photo of some of the ladies who attended the August WIC summer coffee morning at the British & Commonwealth Women's Club this morning. In spite of temperatures in the range of 34C we were able to find a cool spot to convene out on their lovely back terrace.

Mon., Aug. 17th Joan's Leefdaal Walk

After more computer challenges I have finally been able to load this Google map photo from Jennifer of our Leefdaal walk yesterday. Many thanks, Jennifer! She includes the following statistics ... 6.10 kilometers, 1 hour, 30 minutes and we expended only 331 calories .... sigh! It was a lovely walk though ...

Mon., Aug. 17th Joan's Leefdaal Walk

There was a large crowd of us assembled for today's mid-August walk as we started out under grey skies. The sun eventually broke through the clouds though and it qot quite a bit warmer. It was a lovely walk and we all thank Joan for leading us so well.