5/19 Brecht to Zoersel on a warm spring day!

We walked out the door into comfortable spring weather. We traced the route through the town of Brecht.Poorly signed and losing our way at one point I thought Tammy was going to have a word with the mayor! We took a shortcut to a bakery and bought some great sweet rolls and water and reconnected at the Albert canal - a big working waterway between Antwerp and Holland. The morning warmed rapidly and we zipped off our pants. Eventually we arrived at a bridge crossing and a patio cafe/bar where I had some beer and Tammy a latte. As we were preparing to leave a couple walked in and a conversation ensued. They had just day hiked up from the the town we were headed for. We got around to discussing their upcoming trip to US as well and finally gave them the blog card.
On we went through the rural countryside. We saw beautiful large horses. As we went along suddenly a car pulled up- it was the couple we met earlier and they invited us to dinner at their home near the hostel where we were eventually staying - of course we said yes! How wonderful! We walked along into the woods where a jogger slowed down to walk with us. The was from Ghent and had been to the US, and was employed in forest management. We had a great discussion but distracted lost the trail. Rescued by the GPS and not the first time either. Eventually we arrived at a huge brick complex which turned out to be the Abbey of Westmalle known for its --yes--beer! We strode down the lane
to reach the cafe packed with tourists. We tried the Trappist dubbel and tripel along with cheese, a chocolate pancake and ice-cream. Yes we were hungry.
We saw another couple coming in and waved them over. They were avid Dutch walkers and were doing the GR5 in chunks. We had a great talk with them and after the beer was gone we walked together to the hostel where they too were staying. They were fast - or we were slow but arrived in no time!
We cleaned up, did some laundry and then our dinner lift arrived. The dad and his son rode over each holding and extra bike! ( How did they do that?) So we biked to our dinner- saw the neighborhood and met our host family. We had a great meal of soup, turkey and gravey with potatoes. For desert their youngest son had made essentially apple cobbler which served with local dairy ice cream was awesome! What a wonderful home-made feast! We talked abut their travel plans too and gave some tips on places they were excited to see. They then returned us to the hostel which finished our long day of new acquaintances.