Day 5: Tongeren - Boutersem

• Tongeren - Boutersem: 84 kilometres (52 miles)
• Iconic cycle route: Hilly Route
• Accommodation: Guesthouse Biolleke in Boutersem

Hostess Anke of B&B Gaudio XII packs a muffin and an apple turnover for us. ‘Home-baked, for during the bike journey.’ But first, a look around the small town centre, where peregrine falcons nest in the church tower. I discover that a new Suske and Wiske, set in Tongeren, came out four days ago. The edition is sold out at the Standaard Boekhandel book store, but the woman behind the counter recognises my disappointment and she lends me her own copy. With De keizerkop in my pocket, I rush to a terrace in Tongeren’s market square where, facing the statue of the fearless Ambiorix, I start reading, while photographer David visits the Beguinage.

Later than planned, we set course for Borgloon and Sint Truiden. We follow the Hilly Route, with its continuous ups and down and turns. We cycle through the orchards, with the occasional poppy still blooming in the roadside verges. We come across many pear trees and, later, apple trees. The pears are almost ripe; the branches of the trees must be incredibly strong to hold up all those pears. At the Syrup Factory, I have a brief chat with Odette, who is stationed behind the museum’s counter. She says the harvest is disappointing this year; the pears are small due to the bad weather, and farmers are leaving them hanging in the trees longer than usual. Haspengouw lacks blossom in the summer, but there is still plenty to see. Such as the see-through church, a work of art in the middle of a meadow, and the floating chapel further on. Overlooking the little church, we eat the apple turnovers our hostess gave us this morning. After the fruit orchards, the fields begin; we cycle for kilometres through open farmland with no buildings in sight; a landscape where you can still be truly alone.

A cycling race for juniors is taking place in Tienen. It is Saturday afternoon and the cheers of the mums and dads drown out the rattling of the bicycle chains. A young fellow, dressed almost entirely in white, is way ahead of the peloton - someone to remember for later, we think. After the race, the losers drift away while the fathers have a beer on the terrace. A little further along our route, we do the same, because we are in Hoegaarden on a summer’s day, and so we drink a Hoegaarden Wit. We are cycling the Hilly Route and are certainly not the only ones on bikes; it is bursting with day-trippers on e-bikes. The terraces are full. Today, we ride in a loop to Leuven; the first twenty kilometres (12.4miles) of this stage take us through sweeping grain fields, either golden, or brown where the crop has already been harvested. A kestrel dives down into the fields ahead of us, searching for prey. There is a sign in a spinney ahead warning of a nesting buzzard; the mother protects her young with well-aimed swoops and, if you’re unlucky, a claw in your neck. We cycle on through the empty landscape; occasionally we see a farmhouse, but often we go minutes without seeing one. A stud farm passes by and then again, we’re upon those undulating hill paths through the pastures. In the distance far ahead, we see a transparent aircraft, a reminder of World War II, when there was a temporary airfield here used mainly by the Americans.