Since Belgium closed its borders due to Covid-19, our initial plans, to go on a bike packing trip abroad with our team, were postponed. We took this as a great opportunity to discover more of our home country, Belgium, and decided to undertake a two-day bike packing trip from Mechelen to Warredal (close to Maaseik), to a tiny cabin in the woods. Four riders, 2 days and 250 k of mixed surface was all we needed to get out of the office and onto our bikes.

Since we are quite familiar with the local roads around Mechelen, we wanted to get out of town fast and took the gravel roads next to the rivers Dijle and Demer to get to Werchter. Easy cruising on perfect gravel surface on a sunny but cold morning, there are worse days “at the office”.

From there on, we took some small detours by including some Belgian landmarks on the route. We rode by the 'Vlooibergtoren' and made a mandatory coffee stop. Since cafés and coffee bars were closed, except for take-away, Katrien packed her own Handpresso and Primus pot and stove in her bike bag and prepared us a well deserved espresso.

Well caffeinated, we rode to Scherpenheuvel (a Belgian pelgrimage). Lighting a candle in the name of the Lord never hurt nobody. Lunch time in the city of Diest, and from there on, we continued towards the 1000 year-old oak tree in Lummen. We followed an old railway track, which has been converted to a cycle path, towards the coal mine region of Zolder.

A tiny cabin in the woods <3 

After 120 k, we arrived at Warredal, a bunch of tiny cabins well hidden in the woods near Maaseik, around 5 p.m. Just in time for a shower and a local beer at sunset.

The next morning, after we had our breakfast at the “rooftop terrace”, we rode back to Mechelen by taking a different route with more gravel roads the first few hours. An ice cream stop at a local gas station was the icing on the cake of our two-day out-of-office-ride.