First of all, let me apologize for the photo quality. I only brought my iPhone. So worth it though. Sometimes you just want to enjoy things and not log a camera and lenses around. I still wanted to share a few photos with you.

Right. So we decided to get away together on a four day weekend trip – just the two of us. Now that may not sound like a big deal, but we hadn’t done that in about 12 years. My advice: do. Little snippet of wisdom.

We booked a little cabin through AirBnB in Hastiere, in the Belgian Ardennes, a mere 2.5 hours drive from our house. So close to home (closer than Amsterdam!) and yet, we were abroad (note: this is the French speaking part of Belgium). It was cold, I mean really cold. Luckily we brought coffee ;) and there was this super fireplace.

Belgium is known for its little chapels and tiny places of worship. If you’ve never been, they really just pop up on the side of the road, in people’s gardens or even in the middle of a forest. I just couldn’t resist taking a photo of this pink beauty. It’s a huge one by comparison:

We did a lot of hiking, on day two we stumbled across this very mossy area, which I immediately nicknamed Muppet Forest:

We found a trail leading to an old Roman campsite (no ruins, but beautiful views):

Did I mention that it was overcast most of the weekend? Our timing was a bit off, yes… But somehow I quite like the melancholy atmosphere:

On day three we revisited the place where we went kayaking a few years ago. It was way too cold for that now, but we will be back again. It’s so relaxing.

Ferns galore!

And then we found a ladder? Um, okay. We went up there. Obviously.

Always go up the ladder. The path transformed into a rocky, mossy and beautiful trail not many visitors had taken, by the look of things. That’s where you want to go to discover the best spots.

Moss, fungi, flowers and plants are allowed to grow wild and free here.

Discovered this beauty on a fallen tree on the ‘trail’. If I hadn’t looked back while ducking to get underneath, I would have missed it.

And the colour of this water…

We also visited the caves of Han. Most of my photos were blurry, because well caves are dark, but:

Impressive enough, but a little too touristy for our taste:

We quickly headed back to our warm and cosy fireplace. And some pasta ;)