Random roadtripping to Lubbeek & Tielt-Winge

When Jan was in the USA and I was preparing for a business trip on my own, I spent the weekend prepping food for my mom to come and live in our home for a couple of days. But when all was ready we had a free Sunday afternoon on our hands. 

I proposed to do some random roadtripping in the area again. Kabouter and I had already hopped once in the car with the aim to just aimlessly and completely randomly drive around and discover new adventures.  To be transparent: I suggest this to overcome a bit my driving traffic stress & fears.  Kabouter was enthusiastic, Beertje confused but we got in the car and started driving.

We didn't go entirely on sheer luck but decided to go in the direction of the Kasteel van Horst. That's another spot I've visted once with Kabouter alone but Beertje had never been there before. 

We didn't want to use the GPS too much but went old school searching for road signs and much to our amazement we all of a sudden found ourselves part of a tractor parade.  We tried to get out again, take a detour, only to get back at that same parade that was on its way in the direction of Horst as well as part of some agricultural festivities in Tielt-Winge. Quite amuzing. I guess that's the "adventures" you come across when just going with the flow. 

The castle of Horst is amidst of renovations, which I knew from Yab. I hoped to have more access to the waterfront but it was all a restricted construction site so we didn't hang out for too long there. 

Off we went driving again, trying our random luck. We read on the map (without a calculated itinerary) that there was another "castle road" a bit further. Would there be another castle so close to Horst? Well, we'd have to find out... We could only see the entry lanes of the Castle of Cleerbeek but not the buildings itself. 

But in order to park somewhere and go and have a look I had turned off in a tiny road and we were apparently in front of "Het Mooi Alternatief". That's a bio store & farm but with a goregous garden/terrace to have a drink.  The children played with a little child, while I enjoyed a drink and tried to destress from a really busy weekend.  it's a really nice place to discover and their vegan ice creams were absolutely delicious (much against my biased expectation). 

We drove back via the Gempemolen which I recognized from webcam tv images and then it was time to return home...with gps to be a bit more efficient.