What better way to celebrate communities than a good old-fashioned road trip to bring the young, old, new and everything in between together for one day? That’s why I love the tradition of the Newcomer’s Trip. Every year we have had the privilege of a community member taking charge and plan our annual trip to showcase what this beautiful country has to offer.
This year’s Newcomer’s Trip was to the Namur area in Belgium, a little town called Falaën where we boarded some railbikes and trekked along some old abandoned rails to the well-known Maredsous Abbey.
The excitement didn’t just start there though, the morning of the trip we loaded up a double decker bus with kids, teens, couples and singles alike and headed out. I can assure you this wasn’t a normal bus ride as the young kids seemed to take over the back of the bus, teens enjoyed the view from the large window at the front of the bus and adults all seemed to mingle and joke around with those that were near. The organizers surprised us with raffle tickets that had prizes for kids and adults along with trivia games in which we had to text the answers to the OPI. By the way that was a great way to make sure we had the contact info with us before we left the bus! Everyone seemed to be laughing and smiling, we were set to have a great day. Did I mention the sun was shining too?!
The short drive to Falaën was only an hour so it seemed to go by quite fast and before you know it we were unloading the bus and jumping on those railbikes I mentioned earlier. We had a large group of 68 people so you can imagine how much we had to work together to stay organized, load 4 per bike and head on down the rail. This community really came together to make sure the bikes were well balanced between adults, kids and the teens, everyone got to the end safely and in a timely manner. I’ll just say I’m happy my hubby was with me, I didn’t have to pedal, although it didn’t seem too bad if you’re not in a hurry! The railbike ride took us to the bottom of the Abbey where we headed up a wonderful little waking path along a creek, beside a beautiful chalet and up the side of a hill. Once we reached the top we had time to let the kids play at the park while we waited for our tour of the Maredsous Abbey to start.
For those that may not know, Maredsous is known for their beer, cheese and bread and we learned a little about all of them on our tour. The English guide we had was very interactive and kept us all on our toes with questions, we were all a little shy to answer. He told us about Trappist beer and the difference between it and regular brewed beer. He told us about the abbey and the monks that live there and we even got to see a small area they still live in. We found out that the monks would build cathedrals and abbeys based on how the warm or cold wind would blow to protect themselves. Once the tour was finished we were able to sit and sample all of the beer and cheese that Maredsous had to offer while the kids played again and we nibbled on our picnic lunches.
To end our day we walked down the same path to take the rail bikes back to our waiting bus. It was so much fun watching our group saunter together chatting, laughing and having a good time. When we arrived at the rail bikes to take our leisure ride back I could see that there were some good friendships already developing. That right there is the whole purpose of the Newcomer’s Trip and I’d like to say welcome to each and every one of you!