In a bid to make sure that my 28^th year on this earth is not totally wasted I’ve set myself a few challenges.

The first of these being to learn the 32 counties of Ireland, and once I’ve achieved this monumental feat of memorisation, I plan to tackle the countries of Africa.

I like to live on the edge, and learning what some might deem as useless information like the fact that there are five counties in Ireland beginning with L – or six if you count Derry/Londonderry – is pretty much the high point of the past week for me.

And that is even with a trip to Belgium thrown in.

Because Belgium really is that dull.

And yes – I know should know better…having in fact travelled to the land of frites twice before…and with even the twittersphere coming up with no recommendations on how to fill five days in Belgium.

But I put it down to my youth (what 14 year old would enjoy a trip to rainy Brussels?) and to Bruges (If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn’t, so it doesn’t).

The third time would be the charm. I would discover hidden gems and like Tin Tin begin an adventure that would unlock secret treasures as we ventured into territories new…ok, ok – at the very least I would find a reason not to wallow in Wallonia.

Suffice it to say that I would have preferred the weather forecast to have been accurate and we could happily spend our time in the trendy B&B we’d discovered in the heart of the capital city.

But, no the weather gods were on our side and after a few days in Belgium, I can now happily say no more to Namur – a town that doesn’t feel it is appropriate to signpost any of their tourist attractions…resulting in an hour of wandering around depressing streets searching in vain for something more exciting than a cobble stone.

And Liege – home apparently to a new train station that embodies ‘elegance in motion’…motioning out of this architectural marvel (which resembles a spider’s web colliding with a passing concrete mixer) is made difficult by the continued unwillingness of the Belgians to signpost anything.

We quickly gave up on Liege and had a fortifying beer – that at least we could easily find – before heading to base camp Brussels.

Nary a sign nor map were to be found in most of the places we visited – a cunning plan, I think perhaps to get you so lost that you believe that round the next corner there won’t just be another narrow cobbled street that leads you no closer to any form of excitement.

Bruges – well other than the addition of a plague of locusts in the form of tourists mad keen on snapping every building in site, a €10 poke of frites and being burped at in the street by a bulging Brugian who was hot footing it towards the nearest chocolate shop – my previous comments remain as true as when I last visited. 

I will concede that Ghent has some redeeming qualities – mainly the tourist information that is clearly signposted as soon as you get off the train…and Antwerp was just about worth the hop on hop off bus tour.

However, Belgium is boring, and if you don’t heed my advice and do end up there, firstly my commiserations, but avoid Brussels, Bruges and most of the B’s and head to Mechelen and Kazerne Dossin.

More often than not, I usually only get as far as the gift shop in most museums, but was able to spend hours in one of the best museums I’ve ever been in.

A memorial to the Holocaust and an exploration of Human Rights the European Museum of the Year in 2014 is not for the faint hearted – with testimonies, photos and documents from the Mechelen transit camp, or SS-Sammellager Mecheln, where more than 25,000 Jews and Romas were deported and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

This alone made our trip worthwhile.

So for now I will get back to reciting the 32 counties and will keep you updated on how I fare with the 54 African countries.

I know at least that it will be more fun that faffing about in Flanders and wallowing in Wallonia.