1 Bouillon and the River Semois
Walk 2 Corbion, Crêtes de Frahan, Rochehaut and Corbion
Walk 3 Bouillon to Poupehan and back
Walk 4 Vresse and Membre
Walk 5 Bohan and the French frontier
Walk 6 Dohan and the Semois
Walk 7 L’Abbaye Notre-Dame d’Orval
Walk 8 Herbeumont: Viaduct and château
Walk 9 Herbeumont: Mortehan, viaduct and the château
Walk 10 La Ramonette
Walk 11 The Belvédère
Walk 12 Arboretum and patriots’ memorial
Walk 13 Solwaster and the Statte stream
Walk 14 Fagne de Malchamps
Walk 15 Château de Franchimont
Walk 16 L’Étang de Chawion and Lac de Warfaaz
3 Hautes Fagnes, Malmédy and Stavelot
Walk 17 An excursion in the Hautes Fagnes
Walk 18 Kaiser Karl’s Bettstatt
Walk 19 Cascade and canyon
Walk 20 Château de Reinhardstein
Walk 21 Stavelot, Coo and Trois Ponts triangle
4 Dinant, the Meuse and the Lesse
Walk 22 The Meuse and the Lesse
Walk 23 Gendron-Celles station to Houyet along the Lesse
Walk 24 Le Parc de Furfooz
Walk 25 Château de Walzin
Walk 26 Belvaux and the Bois de Niau
Walk 27 Han-sur-Lesse and Rochefort
Walk 28 Château de Montaigle
Walk 29 Maboge, Borzée and the ridges above the Ourthe
Walk 30 The Celtic fort
Walk 31 Circuit of the Lac des Deux Ourthes
Walk 32 La Roche, Cielle and Le Grand Bois
Stage 1 Weiswampach to Troisvierges
Stage 2 Troisvierges to Clervaux
Stage 3 Clervaux to Drauffelt
Stage 4 Drauffelt to Kautenbach
Stage 5 Kautenbach to Goebelsmühle
Stage 6 Goebelsmühle to Diekirch
Appendix A Route summary table
Rural tranquillity (Walk 3)
Colourful houses along the Ourthe (La Roche-en-Ardenne)
INTRODUCTION
Walking is the perfect way of moving if you want to see into the life of things. It is the one way of freedom. If you go to a place on anything but your own feet you are taken there too fast and miss a thousand delicate joys that were waiting for you by the wayside.
Elizabeth von Arnim (1866–1941)
A classic leafy walk in the Ardennes (Walk 27)
Consider a region of extensive and beautiful oak and beech forests, of rolling green hills dividing the sometimes steep-sided and deep river valleys, often with castles perched on improbable heights. Add to that a wide choice of activities including vast opportunities for good, straightforward walks, kayaking, biking, horse riding and fishing, all within a four-hour drive of the Channel coast, and you have the Ardennes.
Situated primarily in Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg but extending into France, the Ardennes has a great deal to offer the active visitor, especially given its attractive villages (often at the water’s edge), good range of accommodation, excellent food and internationally renowned beer.
The military history of the end of World War II in this area – the so-called Battle of the Bulge – is a bonus for many visitors. There are some excellent museums, as well as memorabilia including tanks and artillery pieces popping up all over the place.
Geography
Typical Ardennes upland near Trois Points (Walk 21)
The Ardennes lies within the Belgian region of Wallonia and its constituent provinces of Liège, Namur and Luxembourg. This latter province is easily confused with the country of the same name, so for clarification the country will be referred to in this book as the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (or simply Grand Duchy) – its formal title. Except for two brief incursions, the walks in this guidebook do not include the French département of Ardennes just to the south.
Belgium is one and a half times larger than Wales and about the size of Maryland in the United States. It is very much a country with two principal identities, although it is politically divided into three autonomous regions with four languages. The densely populated northern half of the country is Flanders, where the majority of people are Flemish and speak a language very similar to Dutch, albeit in a number of dialects. (Although Flemish is closely related to Dutch it is distinct enough for some Dutch films to have Flemish subtitles – although that may be more political statement than linguistic necessity.) This region is urban Belgium with some beautiful towns but a rather bland landscape, and little in the way of hills.
The southern half of Belgium is Wallonia where, in the main, French is spoken. The people refer to themselves as Belgian rather than Walloon. Walloon, a language similar to French, was the norm until the mid-20th century, but fewer and fewer young people speak it now, preferring French. A survey in 1989 suggested only 17 per cent of people in the region spoke the language well and only 10 per cent used it exclusively. The only other places where it’s possible to hear Walloon spoken are around the French town of Givet (close to the Belgian border) and, extraordinarily, in some villages in the US state of Wisconsin.