Cilia found a brilliant website called trekkings.be. On that site we found the report of a walk along the GR571. This is a 166km (103 mile) walk through the valleys of 3 Ardennes rivers: the Ambleve, the Salm and the Lienne. It is called vallees de legendes/valleys of legends, because this vast and beautiful part of the Ardennes is full of saga and legends.
Both of us had time available on Friday the 1st of October, so we decided to tackle the first part (from Comblain-au-Pont to Remouchamps) of the walk. We would meet up in the new Liege-Guillemins railway station and travel from there to the start of the walk together.
Things were of to a bad start as Cilia's train got delayed and we lost one hour in Liege. Finally we set out from there to Rivage. Once there we walked towards the Pont de Scay, a bridge over the Ourthe river in Comblain-au-pont and the starting point of today's walk. The trekking site had promised us a challenging climb after only a couple of hundred meters. This seemed to be an understatement. Mudslides and people climbing the hillside with ropes instead of following the path had turned this climb into a mess. A steep climb over muddy and rocky surface, very difficult to find steady foothold. Especially hazardous (and maybe irresponsible) with an injured right arm. Still, we made it up to a cave, where Cilia took a brief rest, before we tackled the rest of our climb. While Cilia sat down, I decided to scout the cave a little bit further and found a path behind the cave. A clear path unaffected by mudslides, that gradually climbed to the top of the ridge. This was a relief for the both of us. This was the walk to the top as we had envisioned it from the beginning. Once topside we had to cross what seems to be the top of the climb, had we taken the difficult muddy climb. A 25cm wide muddy ledge over the mudslide. We conquered that last part of the danger are were in the clear for a carefree walk now.
The climb had taken is through a wood called "les tartines". From the edge of this wood, we took a walk through the beautiful Ardennes countryside towards the village of Oneux. Splendid autumn colours, birds of prey in the air and breathtaking views towards our starting point.... we were happy already.
We passed through Oneux and continued on the Grand Fawe plateau towards another village called Hoyemont. The plateau is situated at an altitude of about 300m. when descending the plateau on the other side, we stopped at le Puits Hayard. This is a old water pit next to the road. We sat down on the edge of the pit underneath the trees and had our lunch here. As we feared at the start in Rivage, it became clear to us at this point that we would not reach our intended destination. The hour we lost because of the delayed train resulted in setting Aywaille as new destination for today.
After lunch we continued our march down towards the valley floor, only to start climbing the next ridge. After the path took us over the top, we came across the wooden cross of Cwimont, from where you have a lovely view into the Ambleve valley and on the town of Aywaille. We passed the hamlet of Septroux in our descend and then found that the GR was closed at this part for the hunting season. Not willing to take the risk, we mate a detour along a busy main road towards the bridge over the Ambleve at Martinrive. After crossing the river, we crossed the railway bridge as well and started our last climb of the day towards the ruins of a 9th century castle. The castle was destroyed in the 16th century. The being a walk of legends and stories, it won't surprise you that this castle has a ghost story connected to it. A woman called Blanche de Montfort supposedly killed her lover and his wife in the chateau, only to throw herself from the castle walls into the valley after her act of despair. It is said that on the eve of All Saints day, you can see her ghost wandering through the ruins. Luckily for us, we didn't see any ghosts.
Because we had a train to catch, we only took a quick snapshot at the ruins and had no time to look at the splendid view from the foot of what remains of the main tower. From there you have an excellent view over again the Ambleve valley and the town of Aywaille. From the ruins our path went down towards the N30 motor way, which took us into Aywaille itself. Aywaille is a smaal town, but has supermarket, bus- and railwaystation and most other stuff you may need. A good resupply point.
Like I said earlier on, for us this was the end of today's walk. We arrived in the railway station 10 minutes before our train arrived and took the train back to Liege from there.
Seems like Aywaille will see us again soon, to start the second part of our adventure along the GR571...
Pictures of this walk right here...
Both of us had time available on Friday the 1st of October, so we decided to tackle the first part (from Comblain-au-Pont to Remouchamps) of the walk. We would meet up in the new Liege-Guillemins railway station and travel from there to the start of the walk together.
Things were of to a bad start as Cilia's train got delayed and we lost one hour in Liege. Finally we set out from there to Rivage. Once there we walked towards the Pont de Scay, a bridge over the Ourthe river in Comblain-au-pont and the starting point of today's walk. The trekking site had promised us a challenging climb after only a couple of hundred meters. This seemed to be an understatement. Mudslides and people climbing the hillside with ropes instead of following the path had turned this climb into a mess. A steep climb over muddy and rocky surface, very difficult to find steady foothold. Especially hazardous (and maybe irresponsible) with an injured right arm. Still, we made it up to a cave, where Cilia took a brief rest, before we tackled the rest of our climb. While Cilia sat down, I decided to scout the cave a little bit further and found a path behind the cave. A clear path unaffected by mudslides, that gradually climbed to the top of the ridge. This was a relief for the both of us. This was the walk to the top as we had envisioned it from the beginning. Once topside we had to cross what seems to be the top of the climb, had we taken the difficult muddy climb. A 25cm wide muddy ledge over the mudslide. We conquered that last part of the danger are were in the clear for a carefree walk now.
The climb had taken is through a wood called "les tartines". From the edge of this wood, we took a walk through the beautiful Ardennes countryside towards the village of Oneux. Splendid autumn colours, birds of prey in the air and breathtaking views towards our starting point.... we were happy already.
We passed through Oneux and continued on the Grand Fawe plateau towards another village called Hoyemont. The plateau is situated at an altitude of about 300m. when descending the plateau on the other side, we stopped at le Puits Hayard. This is a old water pit next to the road. We sat down on the edge of the pit underneath the trees and had our lunch here. As we feared at the start in Rivage, it became clear to us at this point that we would not reach our intended destination. The hour we lost because of the delayed train resulted in setting Aywaille as new destination for today.
After lunch we continued our march down towards the valley floor, only to start climbing the next ridge. After the path took us over the top, we came across the wooden cross of Cwimont, from where you have a lovely view into the Ambleve valley and on the town of Aywaille. We passed the hamlet of Septroux in our descend and then found that the GR was closed at this part for the hunting season. Not willing to take the risk, we mate a detour along a busy main road towards the bridge over the Ambleve at Martinrive. After crossing the river, we crossed the railway bridge as well and started our last climb of the day towards the ruins of a 9th century castle. The castle was destroyed in the 16th century. The being a walk of legends and stories, it won't surprise you that this castle has a ghost story connected to it. A woman called Blanche de Montfort supposedly killed her lover and his wife in the chateau, only to throw herself from the castle walls into the valley after her act of despair. It is said that on the eve of All Saints day, you can see her ghost wandering through the ruins. Luckily for us, we didn't see any ghosts.
Because we had a train to catch, we only took a quick snapshot at the ruins and had no time to look at the splendid view from the foot of what remains of the main tower. From there you have an excellent view over again the Ambleve valley and the town of Aywaille. From the ruins our path went down towards the N30 motor way, which took us into Aywaille itself. Aywaille is a smaal town, but has supermarket, bus- and railwaystation and most other stuff you may need. A good resupply point.
Like I said earlier on, for us this was the end of today's walk. We arrived in the railway station 10 minutes before our train arrived and took the train back to Liege from there.
Seems like Aywaille will see us again soon, to start the second part of our adventure along the GR571...
Pictures of this walk right here...
