Paradise is not as far as we think
One of the main advantages of Belgium is its nature. The way they take care of the woods and the abundance of green landscapes. On the bicycle trip through Limburg’s province we can see that with our eyes.
With just a black and white map anyone can start your adventure through the green lands of Limburg’s Province. You just need a solid bike,a bottle of water and a warm coat.
As everybody knows, Belgian weather is notorious for being really rainy, so before starting the adventure it is necessary to check the weather. Luckily, on our trip did the perfect day for cycling, even though it was really cold because of the freezy wind.
Our trip started by crossing the Albert Canal, the motorway connection between two of the mains cities in Belgium: Antwerpen and Liège. It’s also famous for the amount of cars and boats that go over it. We crossed the Canal by the lock of Hasselt and rode straight following the Canal by the left side until we arrived at the cable-stayed bridge of Godsheide.
After a pause we kept going with our trip and along the road we found a lot of nice places. In the neighbourhood, for example, you can find a really nice little village with traditional houses and animals in its fields like horses or cows.
Also, trough the way you can find cafés that are located there just for the riders. They can provide you hospedage if you are exhausted and help in case you have any kind of trouble with your bike as a deflate tire or some bigger trouble. Also you can just take some drink to refresh yourself and rest some time before continue with your trip.
After cycling about one hour we finally arrived to the Domain of Bokrijk. An Open-Air Museum that contains 550 acres with a multitude of landscapes. A big part of it is wooded, and you can walk or cycle between its woods. For example, there is one part of the Museum that has big trees on both sides of the path, so when you look up you see that the trees touch each other and they make a really beautiful dome effect. Furthermore you can find different types of fauna and flora. Some of the typical animals there are the bittern, the egret and the tree frog. Here for example we can see some swans.
But the most surprising attraction was yet to come. If you keep on going through the woods suddenly you will find a pond that is divided in two parts! You can walk through the pond! Without getting wet at all! This is because on both sides there are cement walls that contains the water. So if you get closer you have the level of the water at the same level of your eyes. The feeling is really impressive because it seems that you are really in the middle of the pound, but without the walls. As I said, it’s a really surprising view!
For ending this wonderful trip we kept going by Domain Bokrijk’s paths until we were back to Hasselt.
The trip took us about two hours and a half, but time passed really fast, because everything we saw surprised us more and more. The bad experiences came the next day, when none of us could move their body because of the stiff! Even so, I would definetely repeat that trip.
