The Linux Beer Hike in Belgium

Belgium 2.0

Article from Issue 144/2012
Author(s):

Land of the fries, home of the beer? Belgium has more to offer than that! In 2001 the LBW went to Bouillon, and this year the geeks returned to the small country in Western Europe – specifically to Diksmuide in West Flanders.

Douglas Adams would have been proud of us: 42 geeks turned up for the 14th Linux Beer Hike (a.k.a. Linux Bier Wanderung). From the 12th to 19th of August 2012 hikers and hackers from various countries all over the world came together in the small town of Diksmuide, the municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. We might not have had the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything,” and we had no enormous supercomputer, but we had Linux laptops, smartphones, and other toys, towels, hiking boots, bicycles, GPS devices, and maps.

I always look forward to the week of LBW each summer as a great way to get together, learn from others, explore the country, and enjoy the local cuisine. On our way to the venue, we passed thousands of cyclists – not surprising, given that Belgium has miles of fine bicycle paths along scenic canals away from car traffic. Some of us turned up on our own bikes, and one geek even left home a week in advance to cycle all the way from southern Germany to West Flanders, more than 1,000 kilometers!

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Linux Bier Wanderung 2009

    Happy birthday, LBW! Ten years of hacking, hiking, and beer tasting – the movable feast wanders back to Bavaria.

  • Linux Beer Hike 2006

    Geeks don’t bite, but insects and spiders do in the Aukstaitija (Highlands) National Park, site of this year’s Linux Beer Hike (aka, Linux Bier Wanderung).

  • Linux Beer Hike 2005

    Killin saw plenty of penguins in August when approximately 80 geeks gathered for this year’s Linux Beer Hike in the Scottish Highlands.

  • Linux Bier Wanderung 2013

    Blue skies, green hills, white sheep, black penguins, and golden ales – what a colorful week we had in northern England. About 60 geeks met in Castleton, in the Peak District, for the annual Linux Beer Hike.

  • Linux Bier Wanderung 2008

    Snow-covered white mountains, green meadows, yellow cheese, purple cows, the distant sound of yodeling marmots, and plenty of Linux people from all over the world – a perfect combination for a geek event.

comments powered by Disqus